The Chance
by Beatrice Benedick
Summary: Gio Rossi is a young man with big plans and a whole life ahead of him, until he met Betty, an impossible love. The story of two lovers who will try to discover true happiness in spite of life’s obstacles. GxB
1. Prologue

**UGLY BETTY**

**THE CHANCE****  
****Beatrice Benedick**

--

_"What is life? An illusion,  
A shadow, a fiction,  
And the greatest profit is small;  
For all of life is a dream,  
And dreams, are nothing but dreams."_

Segismundo, "Life is a Dream".  
Pedro Calderon de la Barca

-0-

I dedicate the english version of this story to all the talented writers at the "Make Every Second Count — Gio and Betty Community" at fanfictiondotnet, and specially:

Alkali (alkali-feldspar), for her sweetness and resolution to delight us with her beautiful writing once more;

Angel (Angelgrl0284), for being extremely analytic and stubborn in her beliefs and for her amazing ability to make small wonders of one-shots;

Bella (SouthernBella04), who encouraged me to finally start to write this and who possesses an imagination that flies across boundaries;

Chick (Wooster182), whose story and inventive moves the hearts of everyone who reads her and her mastery of angst;

Jessica (Jraeder26), whose passionate words brings spice to our community;

Nikki (Jateskatefate815), for finding space among all her work to dedicate herself to the community;

Purple (PurpleBleed), who I owe my Gio infatuation and whose professional writing style inspires me to aim high and challenge myself; and,

Viva los Angeles, because she reminds me that there is a hopeless romantic in everyone of us.

First of all, this is a translation. The original story was written in Spanish and it's called "La Oportunidad". Second, obviously English is not my first language so the whole story will be presented in a very plain vocabulary and style. So, finally, I will be very pleased if you let me know of any grammar mistakes o misuse of vocabulary, I'll make sure to fix it as soon as I can.

It's not necessary to review the story. I will be glad as long as some of you enjoy it, and if I have achieved such goal, then I hope you feel interested in the TV series which is very well produced and, moreover, promotes a healthy image of the Latin-Americans in the United States. But if you insist in leaving me a message, I will be more than delighted to receive them.

At this moment, since it's my first fanfic, I have not intention to maintain the original depiction of the characters. I am pleased as long as they keep their basic essence. I have dedicated myself to practice dialogue, which will be plenty.

Please note that I am going to jump from a character's point of view to another, like a ping pong ball. Keep in mind that it's not a mistake. I have done it on purpose. I am a hopeless romantic so I indulged myself by falling into melodrama with this story. The only thing left is to ask for your forgiveness this time.

Without further ado, I start my short story about the romance between Betty and her Gio.

_Beatrice. April 30, 2008._

--——

**Index**

Chapter I: Gio  
Chapter II: Betty  
Chapter III: The Milky Way  
Chapter IV: Altair and Vega  
Chapter V: As Cold as Ice —Part One—  
Chapter VI: As Cold as Ice —Part Two—  
Chapter VII: Gio and Betty  
Chapter VIII: Break up  
Chapter IX: Date —Part One—  
Chapter X: Date —Part Two—  
Chapter XI: Goodbye  
Chapter XII: One Last Chance  
Epilogue

--

**Next Chapter: Gio**


	2. Chapter I: Gio

**First Chapter: Gio**

The alarm clock rang. He opened his eyes and the bright red color of the numbers that slowly appeared in front of him started to take a recognizable form: five o'clock in the morning. He smacked the alarm clock off and closed his eyes. Before he could get back to sleep, an insolent song started sounding relentlessly, making him curse aloud. His hand made his way in the darkness across the surface of the night table until he found his cell phone and brought it closer to his sleepy eyes: ten past five. He pressed a button and sank his face into the pillow that he kept holding dearly, unconditional companion of his bed, while his drowsy mind slowly returned back to the fascinating world of Morpheus. He woke up with a start as he heard the scandalous Turkish March from the opposite corner of his room. He yawned, defeated, and sat on the bed. He rubbed his fingers against the coarseness formed overnight in his chin and that he had to shear as every morning. He managed to catch the metal cord and turn on the white light lamp that immediately shone against his naked, hairless and well formed chest.

_Wake up._

"Yeah, yeah. I'm on it", he spoke to himself as he approached the alarm clock with the shape of Roberto Baggio and silenced it carefully. Twenty past five.

He stretched while turning on the radio ready to inform himself of the state of the world outside or, at least, of the condition of the highway that he would soon have to transit. He carefully flexed the muscles of his arms that stuck out of his slender back and felt the biceps firm to the touch of his hands. He smiled a good morning to the young man that returned the smile in the mirror and, turning around, he threw himself to the floor falling on his wrists. "1, 2, 3... remember to make the inventory early today… 13, 14, 15... change the vegetable supplier, the latest delivery arrived rancid… 38, 39, 40... ask Rori to update the prices of the board... 59, 60. ¡Done!"

He rose from the floor with renewed energy thanks to the small session of morning exercise. He stripped of his boxers, turning them into a little ball that ended scoring three points inside the dirty clothes basket at the corner of his room, half hidden by a small mountain of piled up books. He took a quick shower singing a couple of songs to the beat of the water that stroke his naked body. Fresh and perfumed, he surged out of his bedroom fifteen minutes later and descended the stairs until he reached the kitchen. His mother was preparing breakfast. Always, since he had memory, he had remembered his mother, early in the mornings, bustling around the kitchen. Nobody ever woke up earlier than her, even after his father abandoned home years ago and there was no reason to do it anymore. He contemplated his mother toiling in front of the oven giving the final touches on some dish. Inhaling heavily, he allowed his nose to delight with the scent of freshly baked bread.

"Good morning, 'Mama' ", he said opening the fridge and serving a glass of orange juice.

"Ah! Giovanni. I didn't hear you coming. God bless you, my son", she rewarded him with a loud kiss in the cheek and tried to comb back the locks of dark limp hair that grew long and parted in the middle of his head framing his ample forehead. "When are you going to get rid of all that hair? It's already of the length of my palm".

" 'Mama'…", he protested, stroking his hair with his free hand, undoing what she had done.

"All right, I am just saying that it's not decent, that's all". She approached the stove and turned off the mushroom cream she was preparing. "Do you want me to make something for you?"

"No, thank you", he drank the juice at one gulp. "I promised someone I'll be early today".

"When are you going to introduce me to this girl?"

" 'Mama', you know she is just a friend".

"A friend? Since when women are 'friends' to my Giovanni?"

"'Mama', don't start, please".

"Fine", she said carefully decorating the mashed potatoes with pieces of artichoke. "Then, when are you going to introduce me to this 'little friend' of yours?"

"Enough with the interrogations! I'm off! I'll see you tonight, okay?"

He bent over to get two big plastic boxes located in the corner of the kitchen and walked to the living room. He stopped when he arrived to the door and placed the load in the floor once again. He took the black leather jacket that rested in the hanger near the mirror and, after putting it on, gave a final check on himself at the mirror. He was not taller than the average man, yet his height never bothered him at all. Honestly, it never served as a demerit to his personality, because ever since his infancy, he had that smart air, grace and a certain charm that allowed him to win over everyone he met. Even when his countless pranks drove crazy all his teachers, just a smile was enough to escape the most severe of punishments. Yes, Giovanni Rossi knew how to get his own way. "Except for this one girl", he thought bitterly.

"Damn!", he cursed as he noticed, through the mirror, a small blood drop stain the tanned skin of his shaved chin. He didn't know what was happening to him lately, but there was something disturbing his concentration even at the easiest of his daily routines. His gaze met those big brown eyes that looked at him as if saying 'you know exactly what's going on'. He frowned, his dark brows framing his face, decorating his wide forehead with several wrinkles. He escaped the look in the mirror and made an awkward gesture. Angry at the stain in his face, he licked his thumb and scrubbed the tiny wound, crushing it without mercy.

"That´s disgusting".

He turned to face the little person wrapped in a pink nightgown with yellow ribbons, who looked at him inquisitively under the silky chestnut bangs that covered her whole forehead.

"Nella, why are you up so early?!"

"I need to get used to it. Summer school starts tomorrow. Besides, I forgot to give you this last night", she extended her arms to her older brother who freed those white and delicate hands of their burden: a volume of "Cities of the Plain" and another of a certain Latin writer that recently won the Pulitzer. "You have to return them next week. Don't forget it".

"Have I ever failed you?", Gio protested. He couldn't afford to buy books to keep them stocked in his narrow bedroom. He didn't have anyone to lend them. His best friends seldom read anything but the sports section of the newspaper, and that was just if they couldn't catch the sports update on cable TV. Besides, he had all corners filled with them and his mother didn't allow him to invade the common rooms with his stuff. He thought that as soon as his business prospered a little he should seriously start looking for a studio in Manhattan. He knew that he was the only man in the house and that his family depended on him, but he longed so much for independence and he knew he had reached that age that made it indispensable. But, for now, the best resort was to borrow books from the educational center where his youngest sister studied. Anyways, he thought, he was lucky to have an excellent memory and he didn't enjoy giving second readings to books. The big pile of volumes in his room had not better use than to serve him as table substitutes and as a bizarre decoration to his place. He definitely needed to start getting rid of them.

"Are you sure the people at your school are not suspicious of an eleven year old girl that borrows book of, for example", he said lifting both books with his hands, "Cormac McCarthy and Junot Diaz?"

"Of course not! People think I am a genius. Besides, the librarian is crazy to meet you".

Antonella turned around making her sheer nightgown flutter in a very cute but conceited motion before she left with long steps to the kitchen. He revised the cover of one of the books and opened the flap; there he found a small note that guarded a phone number and the name of a woman. He placed the note in one of the many pockets of his jacket though he honestly doubted that he was going to call her. Gio smiled while he placed the books on top of the superior box and, after he closed the apartment door, he approached the elevator and pressed the down button.

He was humming a melody waiting for the elevator when his mobile phone started ringing. "It's not even six in the morning", he thought. "She hasn't changed at all". He heard a woman's voice on the other side of the line. He adjusted the cell phone in his neck and walked slowly to the stairs.

"Cynthia, baby, you know you owe me. I'll never ask for it if it wasn't any good. This is for real. No, not today I can't. But talk to whomever you have to talk to. We´ll meet during the course of the week. I promise you. No, I'll call you. I assure you that you will be begging me for more. Yeah, okay. Bye".

He spaced for a second as he closed his mobile, grabbed once again the boxes and carefully descended the three floors of distance to the ground floor. When he reached the common area, he greeted the Super's old mother. For as long as he could remember, she was always sleeping the main corridor, since the time that her own husband was the Super of the building. She was wearing her usual dark prints gown, as if she lived in permanent mourning. The old lady was holding the newly arrived mail and newspaper. After quickly digging through them she placed a couple of bills in the top of one of the boxes that Gio was holding in his arms, not without first blessing him like he was her own son and opening the heavy main door for him.

Two guys where resting, side by side, on a parked car in front of the building.

"Hey, Gio, my man!" said the one who dressed blue sweat pants and a moss colored thick sweater decorated with eye-catching reflective strips. He was raising one of his hands as a manner of greeting Gio and in the other he held a basketball. He had a nicely shaved goatee kept at the same level of his buzzed cut hair. He had Latin-American features and was barely a few centimeters shorter than Gio, cause of endless discussions between the two.

His partner, a beautiful chocolate skinned man, result of the marriage of an Indian immigrant and an Afro-American professor, rubbed his hands together and blew through them, which protruded from his light military printed sweater, trying to keep them warm. He spoke to Gio, "Are you coming to run with us or not?"

"Hey, guys. Today I can't, honestly". He raised his load a little showing them that he was obviously much occupied.

"You know don't have to open today if you don't want to. At least come and play a little basketball match with us".

Gio shrugged his shoulders and that was all he answered them. He made his way to the nearest garage to his apartment, just around the block; the other two followed walking by his side.

"You don't even play with us anymore. Now that you've turned into your own boss, it's even worse. Didn't you say that you were tired of working 9 to 5 and being bossed around? You are your worst boss ever!"

"Woah, Woah, Woah! Listen to me!" Gio stopped short and faced the guy who spoke to him earlier. "It's my money that's on the stake, this time. Not some lousy paycheck. Who's going to take care of my mother and sister if I mess this up, eh?"

"Calm down", intervened the dark skinned man who answered to the name Yamir. "No need to get so serious. But Raul is right on this one, Giovanni".

Gio kept walking after giving a quick glance to Raul from the corner of his eyes. Raul continued to bounce the ball against the walkway to the beat of his footsteps. "I can't believe you didn't join us at the Mets game last week. You got us all worried about you. That ain't cool. Ain't cool at all".

"And my sister is still asking me about you", Yamir said. "You can't disappear like that, man, I don't know what to say to her.

"Tell her I am out of town".

"Easy, man, easy! Give her another chance, will you? Maybe that way she'll get off my tail".

"Look, Yamir. Playing 'Celestine' doesn't suit you at all. Besides, I don't believe in second chances, you hear me? Tell Indira, that I am not her personal toy", he added hotly.

"Hey, I've told her thousand of times you're not interested anymore. But she just keeps bugging me. She is like a pest, I tell you. I think she is still all out of love with you. You go figure".

Raul and Yamir couldn't contain their laughs. Gio scoffed.

"Did she found out that before or after she dumped me for that creep?"

"Well, that 'creep' was the one who helped you find that job at that fancy place you worked before ", Yamir said, "or have you forgotten?"

"¿Robert?" Raul conceded, massaging his short haired head with his free hand "Oh! But you can't blame Robert. We are no match for him. He even took my Maria from me".

"You know what? I don't give a damn! To Hell with Robert and Indira!" Gio turned on the engine to let it heat for a while. He heard it purr and thought, very pleased, that the morning had already started in a good way. As he stepped out of the van, he almost ran into Yamir. "Are you still here?"

"Don't play the tough guy. We all know you weren't serious with my sister. You still had issues with that brunette, that hot babe, what was her name?"

"Yeah, yeah. Gio was all nuts and bolts about her" Raul played with the ball as he tried to bring back memories. "Wow! I totally forgot about her."

"But I can almost swear Gio has not forgotten any part of her. You know, the one that worked in that fancy magazine…" Yamir hit Gio in the arm almost causing him to trip and empty the content of the box he was organizing inside his van "I remember now! Cynthia! Gio, my man, you were a total sucker for her. Even after she married that uptown… was it her boss? I remember you even thought about marrying the chick".

"Oh yeah!", Raul said, "wasn't that the broad with the huge as…?"

"Hey!" Gio hit him in the back of the head with his open hand. "Watch it!"

"You see?" The guy jumped back keeping posture after Gio´s unfriendly attack. "He is still nuts for her!"

"I think he still calls her".

"He even keeps her number in his celly. Yeah, I´ve heard him calling her. He thinks they are 'just friends' ".

They couldn't help but burst out laughing. One of the upper windows of the neighboring building opened up and the angry face of an old lady stuck out of it. It was signal enough for them to shut their voices. Gio closed the door of his van and turned to them.

"I am telling you, guys. I am through with women. I have many other issues to think in this phase of my life. I have to focus on what's important: my…"

"…5 year plan" Yamir and Raul finished at unison. "We know. We know".

_So, a man with big plans…! _

"By the way, Gio" Raul said still distracted playing with the basketball "When are you going to ask me to be your partner? You know I can cook".

"If you can cook, I can paint the Mona Lisa", Gio laughed.

"I am serious, man".

"Me too", he told him and waved them goodbye. "See you in the evening. And, for heaven's sake, find something useful to do".

Gio put on the seat belt and drove his van to Jackson Heights to get one final pick up before he took the straight road to Manhattan. He lowered the crystal of the door to breathe the fresh air of the morning, not yet contaminated by the smog and stench of downtown Manhattan, and let the breeze play with his hair and his thoughts.

Yes, he was through with women and their conflicting relationships, he thought. He wasn't going to let another girl mess up with his life and definitely he wasn't going to let anyone break his heart again. Besides, he pondered, most of the women he knew had already left town or hadn't got any admirable traits or any kind goals in life beyond marrying a rich idiot that could fill them with stinking material goods, or were already married or had an attending accountant for boyfriend who received a monthly steady income in his well established professional career at a prestigious publishing company… He started laughing at the very thought of that stupid idea. He mentally dismissed it from his head. He was definitely never going to tell his friends about that unlikely girl who had enraptured his heart.

--

**Next chapter****: Betty**


	3. Chapter II: Betty

**Second Chapter: Betty**

She heard someone calling her name and opened her eyes. Everything was blurry and she could barely distinguish dim shadows and colors around her room. She quickly found, due to many years of practice, her inseparable glasses resting in her night table and then placed them over her eyes. In front of her was the most beautiful man she has ever met in her life, kneeled close to the border of her bed, smiling just for her and nobody else. She smiled back at him, charmed, but in spite of this, unable to contain a yawn.

"Henry, what are you doing here so early?"

"I… have something important to tell you", he started in a shaky voice as she kept her head in the pillow contemplating those shining eyes that hypnotized her. "You know that soon I'll be gone to take care of my child. But you know I want to spend as much time as I can with you, by my side. Because, I love you".

"I love you too, Henry".

"Then", he said adjusting his glasses over his nose signaling to some point behind her, "why there's another man lying in your bed?"

She felt the presence of a body getting closer to her moving in her bed. She felt someone hold her warm and tighter by her waist from behind. The arm was strong and firm to the touch, two silver bracelets shining around his wrist.

"Oh! No!" she said turning back and recognizing the angelic face of he who slept by her side.

_Wake up._

"Oh, my God!" she woke up with a start seconds before her alarm clock went off screaming its typical melody. She noticed her heart galloping inside her chest and the dryness of her lips. The worse part is that it wasn't the first time that it happened to her: she had been having similar dreams for quite some time then. She blamed the 'tamales' she had for dinner. But she knew it was useless to even try to convince her that she would stop being a hopeless glutton. Especially since food was one of her lifetime favorite passions. She rubbed her eyes with her fingers, put on her bright red plastic rimmed glasses and, having a better picture of the world surrounding her, she told herself: "Time to wake up!"

She freshened up and returned to her room entertaining herself at her own contemplation in front her dresser mirror. She cracked a smile, looked right and left and decided that she was not pleased at all of what she was looking at: big unkempt eyebrows; bushy dark chestnut hair framing both sides of her rounded face; plain features, slightly pug nose, covered with cute freckles of all sizes, everything painted in a burned skin tone due to her Mexican heritage. Her smile was ruined by that awful metallic look that she hated and she wondered how long she would have to keep wearing those cursed bracers. But it was her, nonetheless, she considered while she tried to fix the bangs that covered her forehead without getting the result she wanted. She kindly smacked both cheeks at the same time, cheering herself up.

"Well, Betty", she told herself, "you might not be Salma or Jennifer but this is what you are. And this is as good as it gets".

He grabbed all her notes that were spread over her bed as a second ´colcha´ and started organizing them and later placing them inside her purse. She hadn't slept all night working hard on her project. Professor Barrett has given her one last chance to submit her story for final revision at the creative writing workshop, and she was very aware that he was no man to give second chances to anybody. It all started when Gio pushed her to follow her dreams and to exploit her potential as a writer almost a year ago. But at one of those spontaneously attacks that only someone like her could ever experience, she ended up signing for an additional short story project coordinated by no one else than Professor Barrett, a hateful and extremely demanding man who almost had her failed last semester. She had never written fiction before; she was always focused in journalism. Yet, Professor Barrett insisted in torturing her and, once again, she was on the spotlight. Her story would be one of the first ones to be evaluated. She believed that failure was not an option.

Betty took a deep breath, dismissing all her fears, this time she was satisfied with her work. Moreover, she was very excited to witness Henry's impression when he read it for the first time. But she would not show her story to him until Gio had revised it completely. She quickly read one of the paragraphs and compared it with a rough draft that sported several red colored markings and various side notes. She couldn't help but smile as she noticed a cute little doodle of her that Gio scribbled in a corner of the page. She was pretty sure that this time Gio would be pleased when he found out she could insert his ideas perfectly in the new version of the story. She placed the last bundle of paper sheets in her purse and descended the stairs in a hurry, skipping every two steps, slightly hopping along to the kitchen.

After the a few good mornings and the sound of bites of buttered toasts, a voice was heard breaking the silence:

"Are you going to tell us why you are so happy or not?" The sentence came from the woman that was in front of her and who made her fork dance at every word she pronounced. She wore a lively printed purple blouse that barely covered her exuberant femininities; her long straight shoulder length hair was held tight in a ponytail; her face covered in make up even at such early hours in the morning. Totally different, like water and oil, the Suarez sisters complemented themselves like 'yin' and 'yang'.

"I will, Hilda. You see, I have finally finished a great part of my story. Thanks, 'Papi' " she told the middle aged man of white hair and kind features that brought her a glass of orange juice and later kissed her forehead.

"You had me worried, ´Mija´ ", he said as he returned to the stove, "I saw the light on in your room really late last night".

"The truth is that it's very unfair that you have to spend the whole night doing homework for your writing class". Hilda put on her older sister face. "You should take a rest from that job. They are exploiting you, Betty. How's that you have to sneak away from work at lunch time so you can go to classes! Let me go and talk to Daniel to make things clear".

"You are not going to speak with anybody, Hilda", Betty spoke joyfully but firmly as she noticed the service of ´huevos rancheros´ that her father had placed in front of her. "As things are right now at Mode the best thing you will get from that is to get me fired".

"You can always come and help me at the salon", she said chewing her own portion of 'huevos rancheros'.

"In your dreams, Hilda".

A toasted skinned young lad, joyful eyes, black wavy hair and wide ivory smile, lifted the purse of his aunt and placed it carefully in the back of the seat. Then, he sat by her side at the kitchen table.

"Hello, Mom, Grandpa… Aunt Betty", he said pointing at the purse that he had just placed in the chair. "That purse does not suit your shoes at all. It would be a crime to let you walk in the streets like that".

"Thank you, Justin, but I really need to to carry all my documents. Besides, Henry gave it to me for my birthday". She said that in a tone that pretended to make it clear to everyone the universal premise that if her lover gave her a present in such lovely manner the most natural thing in the world was to wear it every day, even if she didn't like it one bit.

The familiar sound of a car horn was heard from the streets.

"Time to leave", Betty said as she quickly seized her purse and stood up from her chair.

"Can I go with you?", Justin inquired ready to follow his Aunt without even touching his breakfast.

Hilda was faster than him and grabbed one of his ears with her fingers dragging him back to the breakfast table. "Don't play funny. You are coming with me straight to school. Not funny escapades today. Come on, eat now!"

"Give my regards to Gio". Ignacio waved her goodbye from the kitchen as he took out his apron and sat on the place she had just left empty. "Tell him I am still waiting for that rematch at dominoes from last week".

"I'll tell him", Betty shouted as she ran through the door. She descended the stairs and opened the door of the white van that was parked in front of her house.

"Good morning, Gio", she greeted the driver of the van quickly leaning at him and placing her cheek on his and giving a sounding kiss in the air.

"Somebody is in a good mood today", he joked as he started the engine. He slid his hand to the gearshift and as he did so, the metal tinkling sound of his silver bracelets was heard. He took a few seconds to contemplate her: Betty dressed like he never saw woman dress herself before. It looked as if every day she invented new ways to combine the impossible, in spite of what others thought about it. Caring so little of other's opinion that she was able to wake up every day for work to a place where they despise the very thing she represented, especially those sensual and sinuous curves that she could not hide even with all those clothes on. Truly that girl was unique, he thought. She was really pretty, with that eternally rosy smile that those bracers could not take away not even one bit of charm; that long hair that fell free and wavy like a waterfall over her shoulders and those beautiful coffee eyes that were looking at him that very moment.

"Oh, shut up, Gio. If possible, I need to arrive early. Maybe you could quickly check my assignment before you open the deli? I have to deliver it today".

"So, you finished it?", he said tuning the radio from where it sprang a moving 80s song.

"Just half of it", she really wanted to hear Gio's opinion on the job that took her the whole night to finish. "But I have already reached the climax so… No!" she pointed her index finger at him warning him against any of his smutty remarks.

"Fine", he said swallowing a joke. "Okay, arrive early. Count on that. This time we'll take a shortcut".

Transforming into action the words he had just spoken, he turned on the left turn light and, taking a detour, he advanced into a narrow street at high speed. Betty adjusted her seat belt and smiled pleased to the man that was by her side. Gio was barely twenty six years old and was already the owner of a small business placed in the very lobby of the Meade Building, the famous publication group where Betty worked as the Assistant to the Editor in Chief of Mode Magazine. He was a close friend of hers and it was just about a year that they met each other. If you could call friend to someone who was constantly bashing her with unrequested friendly advices, who didn't ask for a dime when she, caught in a fit of rage, threw a trash can at his deli's expensive front window. But that was not before he totally forgave her for getting him fired at his previous job. Moreover, there was a certain mysterious attraction that kept them together, and made them unconsciously yearn for every second they spent quarreling and enjoying each other's company. They both insisted in calling it 'friendship'.

That day, as many others before, he was driving her to work from home all the way from Queens to Manhattan.

"Hey, Betty, could I have a digital copy of the short story when you're done?" He didn't wait for her answer and thought that it would be better to give her at least an explanation. "You know, as a memento of our joint effort".

"Yeah, sure, why not? " She had to admit she was surprised and a little bit fascinated by Gio´s sudden request. "It's not as if you were going to run to the next editorial house and publish it under your name".

Gio laughed, a little bit too loud, Betty thought.

"What are you thinking? I am a devoted reader, not a writer".

"I know. You read almost anything that comes into your hands".

"Actually, I have little spare time, so I try to read only good stuff..." As he spoke he noticed pleased that Betty couldn't hide her delighted face. So he smiled to her when he realized she took that as a compliment.

They arrived to their final destination without further complications, the lobby was almost deserted and it wouldn´t be until an hour that the crowd of workers would start invading the alleys. Gio opened the door of his business, turned off the alarm allowing Betty to enter the premises of 'Gio's Deli'. Betty crossed the lintel and entered that place so heavily decorated with Italian flags and colorful boards that made it feel kind of cozy to everyone who stepped their feet on it. It was, truly, a small business; but size didn't matter at all to the young entrepreneur who would never have thought of a better place to start his dreams.

Betty couldn't avoid but notice that hideous poster of Juventus with its big black and white stripes hanging insolently from the back wall. She remembered the last time she kindly suggested Gio to take down that macabre colored poster that contrasted with all the colorful decoration of the place. The only thing she gained from her efforts was to hear him grumbling for half an hour like a crazy sect devote. More over, he ended up placing it in the most visible place of the room and, the next day, he appeared right in the offices of Mode modeling the Juventus uniform shirt in front of her desk. Since that day she avoided talking about the subject with that hardcore fanatic. She looked for a table that, preferably, was far away from that poster. She chose a corner away from the door and noticed a small chess board in a corner of the ledge on top of her head.

"I always meant to ask you why you keep that chess over there".

Gio turned on the air conditioner and approached a machine to prepare some hot chocolate. He shouted over the counter.

"I am playing with one of the customers".

"Do you play chess? " Betty was surprised.

"I always have".

"I would have never guessed it", she said putting her purse on the nearest chair, took out the documents that were inside it and started organizing them over the little table. Gio came to her a few minutes later carrying two cups of hot chocolate that released a delectable aroma, placing one of them in front of Betty. She took it by the hands, thankful, feeling the warmth indulge her fingers with delight. Memorial day had already passed, and that late spring morning has been cooler that expected.

"This game is about a month old. The guy comes three times a week. We take our time", he reached the board and showed it to her. "This is me", he said pointing at the black king.

She stared at the game. He continued.

"You see? Check Mate in four moves. My guess, that's the reason why he hasn't come for days. No way he can get out of this one".

"Good for you. You must be proud of yourself, Gio" she said with a hint of irony in her voice and pressed him to start revising her story. Gio made a face and placed the chess back to it's usual place. He positioned his chair near hers, sat on it and put his arm in the back of Betty´s chair undeliberatly brushing her shoulders. He got closer to her and started revising her notes while she observed everything with curious and expecting eyes.

One hour passed between revisions and sweet sips of chocolate. Gio made a few petty remarks, mainly regarding style and typographic mistakes. He waited for the last minute to tell her his final verdict.

"The story is quite interesting and really entertaining. It's just that I feel a certain lack of realism in the characters. That´s all".

"But", complained Betty taking the pages that Gio had in front of him "they are supposed to be fictitious. That´s why it´s called fiction".

"What I mean", he said placing both hands in the back of his neck and shifting the weight of his body to the back of the chair, "is that they are too flat. Makes them look kind of phony. There are writers who inspire their characters from the essence of real people they've met. You should try that".

"Well, when I decide to write the story of an arrogant know—it—all buffoon I promise I'll think of you".

"Ouch! The punishment was uncalled for. There, I told you. Besides that, the story is awesome".

"Honestly?" asked Betty contemplating the bundle of paper scattered over the table.

"Honestly". Gio rose from his chair and clapped enthusiastically signaling her in front of an inexistent audience. "Ladies and Gentlemen: Betty the writer!"

Betty smiled quite pleased. In other circumstances she would have been deeply ashamed of the impulsive behavior of Gio, but she had to admit that she had got used to him; besides, this time, at least they were completely alone. She thought that if she survived him calling her "The Eater" every time she entered the Deli, she could very well tolerate anything. Of course, she couldn't deny that she was really proud of this work. So, she made a small courtesy and followed his game. When they got tired of it, she started packing the sheets of paper and, after she had them all ready, she wrapped them with a ribbon.

Gio approached her from behind and delighted himself gazing at her for a moment.

"Betty, I think I can't pick you up in the mornings anymore".

"What? Why?! " she turned in her chair looking up to him and meeting his gaze.

"I'll have to make a detour south to bring my sister to summer school from tomorrow onwards. I´m sorry", and he really felt it that way.

"Well, it's okay. It's not big deal" she said smiling, too cheery for Gio´s own liking. "I'll take the E train as I always do".

She took one last sip of her chocolate and, checking her watch, she hastily said goodbye to Gio. She ran to her office before her boss came for work. Not that Daniel Meade, editor in chief of Mode, arrived early, but all that tension with his sister Alexis had him all moody and he was ever more demanding to his young assistant. Besides, that day they had scheduled a meeting with all the editors of the Mead Publication divisions so there was plenty of work to do. When she reached her desk, located at the core area of Mode headquarters, she grabbed a post—it and scribbled: 'Rounded characters—real life' and stamped it on the bundle. She stepped back putting her hands on her hips and took a deep breath. Up until that moment she hadn't realized how much Gio´s words had affected her. Betty felt a little bit disillusioned. She really enjoyed discussing matters with Gio in the mornings. It was even better than caffeine and, being a coffeholic, that was a lot to be said. But as much as she liked Gio, she couldn't allow herself to share her heart with nobody else but the man she loved above everything. No matter if it was friend or family, or if he had that candid smile on his face that lightened any room even in cloudy sad days.

_What are you thinking?_

To divert her thoughts back to the one she must think about, she started fantasizing about the words of praise that Henry would say when he read her story. Henry, the man for whom her heart beat. The one who had to return to Tucson, his hometown, to become the father that he never had. Honestly, she thought, she had fallen in love with an honorable man. Her heart darkened for a moment. Sometimes she wished that he wasn't. That could be the only chance she had to love and be loved. Probably she would never feel again to be loved in that way. Never again in her life, she repeated to remind her the gravity of the whole matter. It was incredible how destiny had given them a second chance to be together. A second chance that had a due date: a few weeks ago his ex—girlfriend had bore his first child and they were to return as soon as he got the company bonus check. Then life will split them up again and forever.

"Hello, princess", she heard at her back.

"Henry!" she answered recognizing the man that approached her. Henry Grubstick. He worked at the accounting department of Mode. He was tall, of ivory smooth skin, timid eyes, shining through his glasses. That was her Henry, her boyfriend. He for whom her hands sweated and, for the first time, she felt love.

"Here's your paycheck", he told her placing an envelope over her desk. "Now that we got paid. How about we go out tonight?"

"Perfect", said Betty swallowing her worries for the future and determined to live the present. "Want to do anything especial?"

"I was thinking about renting some italian movies but" he tried to find any trace of interest in Betty's face, "this time it's your call".

"It's okay, let's stay at your place. Just, let me call 'Papi' to tell him that I won't be back home tonight. Besides, perhaps you can tell me what you think about this story", she told him showing him the bundle of papers she had in front of her.

Henry kissed her in the cheek before whispering at her ear.

"Of course I will. You know everything you write is perfect. I am sure I will love it".

Betty blushed. Henry rarely found fault in her writings. She was very sure this one will please him, like always.

———

**Next Chapter: The Milky Way**


	4. Chapter III: The Milky Way

**Third Chapter: The Milky Way**

Hilda placed one final coat of bright fuchsia polish over her nails while she talked on the kitchen telephone. Besides the sound her own voice, only silence was heard in the whole house.

Then, a bone piece hit hard the wood of a table board making a loud sound that echoed in the living room.

"'Capicua'".

"No!" Gio shouted throwing the dominoes tiles he had been holding in his hands against the table, mixing them with the rest. Ignacio Suarez gave him a triumphant smile as a response, while he turned the tiles face up in order to start counting the small black markings that indicated numbers from one to six and wrote the final sum in a piece of paper he had resting on his lap. Gio was his usual companion on Saturday nights, especially since his favorite daughter, Betty, embraced a relationship without future with a man who already had a son with another woman, and now she rarely spent the weekends at home. An issue that, even thought he was firmly against it, he knew that would cause his late wife Rosa to remind him that little pigeons must have the freedom to learn to fly by themselves, so they can learn from their own mistakes. As soon as he finished writing the final score, he drew a line signaling the end of the previous game and prepared another table for the next one. If only life were as simple as that. Gio would have made a perfect son-in-law, he thought, but children didn't exist to satisfy the desires of their parents. They had their own wishes, their own dreams. Yet it was not secret to anybody that he had become very fond of this young man and he already considered him the son he never had. He regarded him as 'familia'.

Gio drank the rest of his beer before talking to the one that was sitting in front of him:

"I just can't relieve we lost for the fifth time. And of Justin who doesn't even know how to count the bones yet!" he pointed at the youngster that tried to shuffle the fifty two bone tiles with only the tip of his fingers as if they made him sick.

"Oh, well. If you want, find a better partner". Betty stood up from her chair a little bit upset and, turning over her heels, walked to the kitchen.

Gio shouted at her lifting the empty bottle: "By the way, would you bring a beer?"

"Come and get it yourself!" Betty answered from the kitchen, causing Ignacio and Justin to exchange knowing looks and laughs. Defeated, Gio had no other choice but to rise from his chair, too.

"Fine, Fine. I'll get it".

Justin took the chance and slithered to the TV tuning one of his favorite shows. In the kitchen, Hilda was still installed in front of the telephone, chatting non-stop and blowing softly, every now and then, over her nails to dry them quickly. Betty opened the fridge, took out a 'flan' from its interior and gave it for Gio to hold while she scrutinized the bottom of the fridge for his beer. Once she found a bottle, she gave it to him taking the flan out of his hands. Gio opened the bottle with a sharp hit from his wrist and the help of the edge of the kitchen worktop. He took a sip while he admired with fascination, as if contemplating a work of art, the way Betty introduced a huge piece of flan inside her mouth.

"Ah! That's my Eater!"

"When are you going to stop calling me that?" she complained still gobbling up the piece of flan.

"What? You don't like it?" he said taking a spoon from the sink and dipping it into the flan that Betty held in front of herself.

"It's horrible".

"It´s delicious!" Gio said tasting the dessert that melt inside his mouth and totally ignoring Betty´s former response. His eyes found that day's newspaper over the kitchen worktop that he was leaning against and entertained his sight with a small printed box offering discount tickets to all Mets versus Yankees programmed games. He sighed and silently complained about how routines and business matters had taken away the time to dedicate himself to old pleasures. He pondered, beating the add with the edge of the spoon, realizing that would be the first year that he wouldn't show not even to one single Mets game.

"Something is wrong?" Betty asked getting close to him trying to see what the news that caught his attention was, and by doing so, several strands of her hair brushed Gio´s unaware lips.

"Nothing" he lied, more due to the surprise to have her so close to his body, being able to inhale her scent in every breath he dared to take, than for trying to hide something from her.

Betty turned her face to him and introduced another piece of flan in her mouth, studying Gio´s facial expression. He slowly moved until he was between her and the newspaper. "The Mets are planning to interchange one of his best players just before the season ends".

"So you are also fanatic of ´La Pelota´?"

Still leaning against the worktop, he got a little bit closer to her and, lifting an eyebrow, he offered her one of his loveliest grins. "I love all types of sports, especially if they require certain degree of physical effort".

"I can figure as much. Especially if by physical effort you mean pressing the button of the remote control. It's interesting, Gio, to meet an athlete that doesn't need to lift from his chair to exercise".

Gio leaned away from her and took another sip from his bottle of beer.

"Well", Betty continued, "on my part, I am not half as fanatic as you. But my mother and I used to love the Yankees". Gio almost choke by the way she said that.

"The Yankees?! You have to be kidding me! Are you trying to tell me that your favorite baseball team are the Yankees?" he said making a gesture with his hands as if he was about to strangle her. "And you insist on going against me!"

Betty laughed still chewing a mouthful of flan. She looked extremely cute, almost like a naughty little girl. It was the first time that he saw her like that.

"Fine!" Gio conceded walking away from the kitchen worktop and to the direction of the sink where he placed the spoon he had been holding in his hand. "This is a free country. But I can't believe you caused such a commotion over that Juventus poster when the Yankees have almost the same uniform design. The truth…"

Betty stopped paying attention to Gio, fearing another of his long and endless lectures and seized the chance to revise the newspaper that he left over the countertop. She noticed pieces of flan over one of the sports section´s adds but she couldn't find any article about the said Mets player. She jumped as she felt a warmth breath against the fragile skin of her left ear.

"So, how do you want me to call you, then?"

Somewhat annoyed at him for having startled her and, turning to face him, she responded vehemently:

"Bet-ty-Sua-rez", she emphasized each syllable with a movement of the spoon in front of Gio's face as if teaching the alphabet to an illiterate.

"Nah!" Gio said moving his head and thinking for a moment "That won't do".

"Gio!" Ignacio's voice came from the living room "We have ran out of 'frentes'. How about a 'mano' between you and me?"

"Right away!" he answered the call for game and then turned to Betty who was still entertained with the 'flan'. "How about… 'linda'?"

"Who´s Linda?"

"You, you are 'linda'" he said giving her a wink and returning back to the dominoes' table.

At that very instant Hilda hanged up the phone and approached Betty who had been following Gio with her eyes, unable to understand the joke.

"You are so silly, Betty!" Hilda elbowed her. "'Linda' means 'cute' in spanish".

Betty swallowed the mouthful of flan in one gulp and didn't spoke a single word. For an unknown reason, she felt a slight tickling in her left ear, she had lost appetite and the air in the kitchen suddenly started turning scorching hot. At least she made sure to delay her return to the living room until she verified that she had recovered from strange crimson tint that suddenly invaded her face.

—0—

Half past eight in the evening. It was usual for her to leave the office with Henry after work, one of the many advantages of working at the same building. But that night he was in Tucson, his hometown, resolving one of the many inconvenient related to bring a child into the world. She looked around: most of the shops of the lobby were still closed. 'Gio's deli' was most likely closed as well, she thought. Generally, Gio left an hour and a half hour before her. She walked towards the main door ready to call a cab when, to her own surprise, she distinguished a familiar figure carrying a couple of boxes on the way to the exit.

"Gio!" she shouted until she caught up with him. "How strange that you are still here. Are on your way home?"

Gio turned around still carrying his load in order to take a better look of she who ran to his side.

"Sure, come with me. I'll give you a ride", he turned his back to her. "Grab the keys of the van, will you?"

The keys were chained to the belt loop of his worn out jeans, hanging over his right back pocket.

"Be careful of what you touch back there or I'll charge you".

She scoffed while she carefully unchained the set of keys from his waist and walked before him taking care of all the obstacles on their way to the garage. She opened the back door of the van for him and then seated on her usual place in the front of the vehicle, then reached the opposite door and opened the lock so Gio could enter. As she did that, she felt for the first time against the palm of her hand the rough texture of the beaded cushion that Gio used on top of the driver's seat. It felt harsh to the touch and, without being completely aware of it, she found herself rubbing her hands against the cushion while the little beads rotated in their axis responding to the friction of her fingers.

Gio finished organizing the items at the back of the van. Closed the back door and, as he approached the driver's door he realized that, amidst the shadows and the faint dim-light of the evening, Betty was fiddling with the seat's cushion. He amused himself by watching her get distracted over such a simple thing. Somehow the whole scene reminded him of the kitten Nella got for her sixth birthday. He finally opened the door.

"Those little wooden beads, aren't they a little bit uncomfortable?"

He laughed out loud.

"What? You mean to my cute little butt?!" Betty hit the seat with her palm in frustration, as if she was punishing it instead of Gio. She thought that there wasn't a way to keep a decent conversation with that man when he was in the mood to annoy her. Gio continued:

"Well, this wooden pad is really comfortable, now that you are asking me". He passed his hands over the cushion and, as he did that, he ended up meeting Betty's fingers in the dark. She quickly moved away her hand pretending to entertain herself in turning up the van's upper interior light. Gio, ignoring her gesture, continued. "Especially in long rides and, when it's hot, it keeps my parts fresh and ventilated", he said signaling his crotch.

Betty felt the blood fill her whole face and, quickly looked away, complaining:

"Too much information…"

Gio ignored her again and patted his chest proudly.

"You know, Giovanni Rossi is a very considerate man and I am especially kind to please my tushie". His face lightened up. "Want to give it a try?"

"What?! No!" she yelled. Gio was crossing the line.

_Oh, yes you do!_

"I didn't mean my tushie". He laughed highly amused. "I meant the cushion. Do you want to drive?"

Betty glanced at the set of keys he was showing but she just moved uncomfortably in her own seat and admitted:

"I don't know how to drive".

Gio then, entered the van, seated in the driver's seat and added quite sincerely with a resolute tone:

"You'll learn. I'll teach you one of these days" he turned and gave her that look he was used to when he said something he considered clever, from the corner of his eyes through his thick eyelashes and half smiling.

She didn't answer him immediately and, though she felt a little bit consternated, she couldn't deny that she was pleased by the offer: Gio was good at teaching and she knew how much he enjoyed, or rather bragged, schooling others the things he knew. She didn't even have to ask, he was already prone to help her. Though it was hopeless to try to refuse the offer of that stubborn man, he would bug her until she agreed. Same old Gio, she thought. The part of Betty that she didn't knew that existed, felt secretly happy of the special treatment she received from him, even though most of the times she didn't even asked him to. But there was also another part of her who knew that it wasn't right to accept it. No, it couldn't be right, she thought. However…

"All right, Gio. When you have any free time you teach me. I promise to be a good student", she diverted her attention to the back of the van, escaping those cursed smiling eyes that looked at her, surely thinking about something dirty to tell her in response. She quickly noticed the dark fake wood interior that covered some of the walls of the van when it was not decorated by traces of broken isolation material that sprung from every corner. Betty couldn't fully understand how come Gio insisted in calling vehicle that big piece of junk. But, she bit her tongue restraining herself of making any scathing commentary and made a huge effort to find something pleasing to indulge him. "Well, it's very useful that you have a van. Look at all that space. You could do almost anything with it".

"Yeah, you're right", he conceded, "almost anything. You know, I got it for a good price, it's in perfect state and it's comfortable, too. You can even park it at a nice dark spot, grab a blanket and a bottle of wine and with good company you could enjoying a warm night of passion and light some sparks in the dark".

She turned at this comment and faced that naughty look of his eyes and his meaty lips that uncovered that white candid smile. He was obviously trying to make a joke but she wasn't amused by it, on the contrary, her own imagination betrayed her and she started to play in her mind things that she didn't want or dared to imagine. She felt the blood fill her cheeks and tried to quickly escape his gaze, hiding her blushed faced from his stare.

"Ew… Gio", she pretended to be disgusted. "You transport food there. Talk about sanitary!"

"Just kidding".

_No, you weren't. _

"Come on, Betty!" He said in a conciliatory manner. "You seriously need to loosen up a bit".

"And you are especially insufferable tonight".

He turned off the light and turned on the engine.

The radio played a romantic ballad that gave Betty chills. It was the first time that they were alone together so late at night. As she started to be self-conscious on that fact she felt more uncomfortable. After some time sitting in silence, she understood that she had the responsibility to try to make conversation.

"You know what, Gio? Maybe I should take you seriously, and learn a thing or two from you".

"Finally? So, you want to try the blanket idea?" he interrupted sounding extremely excited.

"Oh! Stop trying to be funny! I am serious".

"Okay. Okay. Please continue. I'll put on my poker face just for you".

"What I am trying to say is that I should make my own plan. I won't be in my twenties for ever and, look at you, you are done for life. It's so nice to know that someone has already fulfilled his dreams. You have everything you want and you are not even thirty".

"Do I, really?" he said surprisingly annoyed. "And what exactly are those 'dreams' that I have achieved?"

She was surprised of that sudden outburst.

"Well… you are a sandwich maker, and you own your own deli place, don't you?"

"A 'deli'. How grand! I just started my next five year plan and everyone is already proud of the little I have achieved. Pat me on the head and let's celebrate. Yay!" He raised his arm to the skies and let them drop heavily on the steering wheel in visible frustration. "So you think that's all a guy like me can get from life, don't you? That it's all I have ever wanted. That I am not smart enough to achieve higher goals, eh?"

Betty turned to look at him as the lights of the opposite vehicles flashed over his face revealing his angry features like she never had seen before. She didn't dare to say a word. He continued speaking looking straight to the road.

"Just because I own a sandwich deli people start assuming that I dreamed of becoming a sandwich chef all my life. That's the best I can milk from life, a guy like me".

"Hey, Gio. I didn't mean…"

"Well, let me tell you, Betty Suarez", he interrupted her, "you might not believe it but I am not a 'sandwich maker'. I am an entrepreneur. I have many plans and goals to achieve. This is just a stepping stone: my first project. I want to manage several successful businesses and I'll make them grow like pancakes".

_Pancakes? That sounds like a chef way of thinking to me._

"My family is in the food business. So it was only logical that I had to start in what I know best. That's all".

Betty reflected for a minute as she saw him getting so worked up. She was a little bit concerned by his anger. Gio was rarely that angry and so sudden. He let go so much in his words. Something about it reminded her of herself and her constant struggle against society, against her family precepts and what the world expected of her. She understood he wasn't arguing with her but with somebody else, with the other people and their social prejudices. That outburst only showed what he must have been keeping inside his heart for a long time.

He took a deep breath and released it heavily from his lungs. He combed his hair with the left hand and then let it hold in his forehead for a while, resting his elbow in the door. Those words were for his father, not for Betty. He didn't know what had overcome of him that made him expose himself to her in such way. He was unfairly putting a burden into a stranger and felt honestly embarrassed by all that nonsense he just said to her. He unwillingly ended up showing one of his weak flanks.

"I am sorry. Just… don't call me 'the sandwich guy', okay?"

"All right, all right", she conceded, happy to meet the Gio she knew of old. "I won't call you that anymore…" He had such a stern look on his face that she couldn't help but tease him. "I promise, sandwich guy".

Gio turned to her and those metal covered teeth that smiled at him. He laughed. He had been behaving as a fool in front of her.

"I'm sorry. Honestly. My problem is not with you".

She put her hand in his lap.

"I know. I understand you. But you have to do something with that character of yours".

He felt a jolt of warm overcome his whole body as a reaction to the touch of her hand. He gulped and let out a nervous smile trying to keep his composure.

"And you have to do something with that hand of yours or you're going to make us have an accident".

Betty pulled her hand away as quick as if she had been stung by an insect and shouted in frustration:

"You'll never change, Giovanni Rossi!"

They parked in front of Betty's house and as she tried to descend the van she tripped and felt flat in the sidewalk. Gio joined her as quickly as he could and picked her up from the floor lifting her by the arm. She brushed up her skirt with a quick movement and checked that she had no serious injuries. She looked at Gio standing in front of her visibly worried.

"I am not a child, Gio. I can take care of myself".

"Sure you can", he told her and, grabbing her by the arm, offered to accompany to the door.

He held her by the elbow all the time he walked the front stairs of the entrance. With every step a second of being alone with her withered slowly. He stopped at the door, his fingers still clinging to her without the slightest intention to let her go.

"Betty, you surely know that…" He paused and for a brief instant he considered to take that chance. But seeing the expression of interest in her face made him waver and all he ended up saying was "you know you can count with me… for anything".

He let her go from his hands. It didn't matter how close they seemed to be, there was always something that separated them, something impenetrable that pulled them apart the one from the other. In the beginning he believed it was just the fact that she wasn't alone, that it was the existence of that other guy who didn't deserve of her and will soon disappear from her life. At least there were hopes to fight for, he used to believe. But one small obstacle turned into another and another one, that grew with time and were latent every time they were together, threatening him and reminding him of the mistake he made by keeping his feelings in secret for such a long time. When it was that such a small problem grew into a galaxy of stars and planets, a bottomless abyss? There was always something or someone between them: a gesture, an argument, a situation that prevented him to get close to her, and he wanted so much to get closer to her. Something inside of him whispered to him that she wanted to do the same. But this time he let the chance escape from his fingers and hid his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

"Thank you, Gio", she said as she patted his shoulder in a friendly manner and started looking for the keys inside her purse.

He felt ashamed for being such a coward. He, the overconfident Giovanni Rossi, was afraid to let his heart in the open to that woman! He quickly turned away and waved goodbye. He entered the van, hit the gas and, without even waiting for her to enter the house, he left in a hurry from that place, upset, in anger with the world, the stars, the night and everything that existed, even himself and his damned cowardice.

"Perhaps I should tell her and get over with all this… thing", he started speaking to himself or maybe to the van who never answered him back but was always ready to listening without complaining. "But… What for? Why now? I didn't do it before. And she… she doesn't need me. Damn it!" He hit the steering wheel angrily. He knew he was getting too attached to her. Too close for his own good. He was making a fool of himself and that girl was to blame. Or maybe he should blame himself for being unable to control his own feelings. He knew he didn't need all that drama especially at that crucial moment in his life. But he really enjoyed her company. He was becoming addicted to her. To see her every moment he could, to see her smile was his own personal drug.

The following evening and in spite of his own judgment, he managed to make himself believe that he really needed to install the new cappuccino machine that was resting for days at a corner in his deli. Surprisingly, for his conscious self, that simple task took him two hours more than expected. It was already dark and all the other businesses were close when he finally saw her, through the glass, the mismatched colors of her dress at the lobby. He smiled, grabbed the keys from the usual spot and, locked the door of the Deli. As he turned around at the direction where Betty was standing, something made him stop short and freeze his steps: a shadow emerged from the elevators and joined her. Henry. After kissing her and lock her in an embrace, he escorted her to the main door of the building. She seemed so happy enjoying the moment and he heard her candid laugh in the arms of that man, his rival. No, the boyfriend she had chosen for herself. Their steps died echoing in the lobby, so lost in their selves that they didn't even noticed his presence standing there, watching them in silence.

_What were you thinking? She already has someone. _

Gio clenched the keys in his hands and backing over his own steps, walked slowly to the opposite exit to the parking lot.

———

**Next Chapter: Altair and Vega**


	5. Chapter IV: Altair and Vega

**Fourth Chapter: Altair and Vega**

Betty walked down the stairs of the main entrance of Meade offices and she reached the lobby in less than a minute. It was a shame that that very same day, when she finally managed to leave early from work, the Accountant and Human Resources meeting to which Henry was attending since lunch time had been running late. She closed her mobile ending the conversation with her boyfriend and turned back to look at the stairs that rose stately to the main entrance with the carving: 'Meade Publications'. She hadn't the slight interest in returning back to the office. So, she walked guided by an invisible magnet force to one of the locals of the lobby, she entered and sat in one of the tables.

"Hello. How are you?" she told the young woman that appeared to be escaping with quick steps to the door. Rori, as clearly stated the engraved name in the ID of her uniform, made a face and stopped right in front of her but didn't returned her greetings. "Eh… the usual… please?" Betty ordered seriously considering the idea of advising Gio about the behavior of his employee.

"As you like it", Rori answered with a huge fake smile that showed her all her smudged teeth and even a little piece of chewing gum.

The attendant placed her purse and the books she was carrying heavily over the nearby table and turned back to get her order. When she came back she placed a steaming cappuccino with amaretto and a small note with the bill in the table. Without muttering a single word, she left.

Betty loved the smell that invaded her nostrils and looked around. The place looked empty but she knew she wasn't alone. She took some notes from her purse, emptied two full sugar sachets in the cup and started stirring the coffee, lost in million thoughts.

Gio approached her from the backroom carrying a small bundle of papers, bills and an adding machine under his arm. He sat on the table by her side and, without even looking up, he greeted her.

"I am waiting for Henry to pick me up. He's got a very important meeting outside the building and they will finish in about half and hour". Betty told him even though she knew that he never asked for explanations to justify her frequent visits to his deli.

Gio made a sound that Betty interpreted as an assent and kept himself busy with his task. She reached to him trying to spy what he was doing with so much dedication.

Then a beautiful and tall young woman opened the door. She was very professionally dressed with a designer's jacket and matching short skirt, high black heels and, in Betty's point of view, too much make up. The first thing that anyone could notice of her was her large hips that swayed to the sensual rhythm of her steps. That woman suddenly reminded Betty of Amanda, the snobbish receptionist of Mode. The lady stopped for a moment in the middle of the deli and took out the sunglasses that covered almost her whole face discovering a pair of feline looking amber eyes. She went directly to where they were sitting. To Betty's surprise, Gio rose from his chair with a jump and grabbed the newly arrived girl by the arm dragging her to the backroom, without even excusing himself with Betty. It wasn't until five minutes later that she surged from the room followed by Gio.

"I told you last night. Give it a chance. You won't be disappointed".

"I am starting to lose patience" she said with a high pitched sweet voice. "I already told everyone. I hope you are not wasting my time".

"I promised you, didn't I? Just give me some time, okay? Don't you trust me anymore?"

She turned to face him, placed her hands on his shoulders and looked at him straight in the eyes with a smile painted in deep crimson red.

"Of course I do. You know you are the best man I've ever known in my life". Betty couldn't help to make a gesture from that corny comment. When she realized they noticed her, she lowered her head and pretended to concentrate in her notes, completely ashamed.

"Well, then believe in me", Gio said. "I am not asking you to do it. Just give it a try and then tell me what you think about it".

She slid her fingers down his arms reaching his biceps, those biceps that gave shape to his red rolled up sleeve shirt, she squeezed them between her fingers and smiled at him.

"Gio, have you been working out? It's really paying off…" She leaned to him as if she was about to kiss him. But Gio took a step behind and cleared his throat indicating with his eyes the presence of Betty right in front of her and who was trying hard to make believe she was paying attention to her coffee cup. The woman gave her the same look she would give an insect and raised an eyebrow. "Whatever".

She turned away swaying her hips as Gio watched her go with those beady eyes of reminiscence and longing Betty had never seen in him before. She secretly admitted feeling uncomfortable. And she became little bit angry without being able to figure the reason for her irrational behavior.

"Classic" Betty surprised herself saying aloud.

Gio, heard her words and woke from his longing. So he leaned closer over her, and rested his hand on the back of her chair looking at her hotly and daringly.

"You think you have all figured out. Don't you, Betty?"

Betty raised her gaze and faced him dangerously close showing to him she wasn't intimidated by him.

"Why yes, I do. Nobody has to be too smart to know your type".

He leaned even closer and only a small gap divided their bodies.

"Well, then, tell me: what type am I?"

Betty saw the proximity and considered it an insult. Not knowing what to do and feeling surprisingly and illogically angry at him, she shoved him by the shoulders with both hands, rose from her seat and walked to the door shouting:

"Definitely not my type!"

Gio felt like he got hit on his stomach. But that was not going to let that slow his spirits.

"I didn't even ask you that!"

She slammed the door of the Deli. She didn't even turn to keep arguing over such a stupid topic. Seriously, she thought to herself, talking with Gio always seemed like swimming in shark infested waters.

Gio sat heavily in the chair, took a sip from the coffee that Betty had abandoned over the table and, grabbing his pencil, continued classifying his bills and expenses. But the numbers started mixing inside his head and he totally lost concentration. He threw the pencil against the table and shouted: "Not her type! she says. Ha!"

He repeated the same phrase over and over in his mind. It did hurt him more than he would admit to anyone, even to himself.

An hour later, Gio closed the doors to his deli and was about to leave when he saw Betty still sitting in a corner of the lobby. He approached to her until he was right in front of her.

"So, your Henry stood you up?"

She gave him a look and didn't spoke a word.

"Come on, I'll take you home".

"No, I already told you my boyfriend will take me.. He is just running a little late".

Without asking for permission, he sat by her side pushing her with his body so he could gain some space in the seat and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Looking for something? "she asked frustrated.

"I'll wait at least until he picks you up", he explained. "Besides, I thought you had already lifted the restraining order that Judge Eggy had put on me. Or you are placing one on me again?"

"What restraining order? What are you talking about?" She looked at him as if he were a mad man.

"You know, the one that prohibited me to be in less than three hundred meters close to you and that you shouldn't talk to me or hang around me or see me ever again, under penalty of life imprisonment".

"How can you make jokes like that? You know it was a misunderstanding. And I never said anything about three hundred meters or prison, for instance".

"But you implied it".

"Gio. Listen. That's over. Sit there all night if you want, for all I care".

They sat in silence, side by side and twenty minutes passed without speaking a single word to one another. Almost all the other employees seemed to have left the building. Gio started singing an upbeat song with the help of the sound of the keys in his hand and the snap of his fingers. Betty was about to break their silence and command him to shut up once and for all when her cell phone started sounding.

"Shh" she ordered Gio as she quickly picked up the incoming call. A shadow passed through her features after a few minutes. "No, No, don't worry… Seriously, I'm fine. If you have to stay longer, you have to, right?"

Gio jumped from his seat and offered her his open had, repeating 'I'll take you home' moving his lips slowly without saying the words aloud.

"I'll manage" she told Henry through the phone and nodding at Gio. "Take care. No, really. It's okay. Bye".

She reluctantly reached his hand and helped herself rise from the seat. They headed together to the parking lot.

Less than thirty minute of driving time passed when a loud noise exploded and the van stopped short in the middle of the street. Gio put the gear in neutral and pushed the van towards the pavement. Betty asked herself if that night could get any worse.

"I can fix this", he told her with confidence.

He didn't have to tinker much until he found out the batteries were discharged and the van had a blown fuse. That side street they were appeared deserted and they waited for more than fifteen minutes trying to get someone to help them jump the car.

"I always forget to buy a 'battery charger'". He complained in spite of his good memory cursing as his brand new shirt got an oil stain. He rolled up his sleeve, hopelessly ruined, and approached to Betty's door. Suddenly they heard a lively folkloric ring tone. It was definitely not his mobile. Betty answered and Gio, being so close to her, found impossible not to overhear some of the words that she whispered to the receiver.

"No. Please don't worry. It's really not that big a deal. Honestly. We'll manage", there was a pause and she lowered her voice even more. "How many times do I have to tell you that there's nothing between Gio and me? It's better if we talk about it when I get home".

Gio guessed he caused some kind of fight between the lovebirds and he didn't even try to lie to himself and acknowledged that he was somewhat pleased about causing some commotion between them. When he noticed Betty turn off the phone he told her:

"So, prince charming won't come to your rescue?"

She glared at him.

"No. Do you want him to come to your rescue?"

Gio smiled to the defiant glare she had in her face.

"Of course not. I am just surprised, that's all. But I've got bad news for you", his eyes shifted to the front of the vehicle. "You might want to reconsider giving a chance to your knight in shinning armor's offer. How about if I tell you that the van won't restart?"

"I know you didn't fix it. I heard you cursing three times in a row. But it's okay. You got us into this mess. You bring me home". She descended the van and stood by his side. "So, what's your 'plan'?"

"Well, I know there's a gas station somewhere in a few kilometers. And there is this friend of mine who lives several blocks from where we are now, I think".

"You 'think'?", she protested.

"Right. I'll call a taxi. Go home". He reached his mobile and started looking inside his address phone.

Betty put her hands over the screen of the phone preventing him to make the call. "What are you doing?"

"Calling a cab. I am not going to have you whining all the way".

"I said I will stay. I am going with you".

Surprised by this resolution he looked at her in the eyes. She seemed really determined and was in no apparent urgency to go back home. Actually it looked quite the opposite. The little fight with Henry must have been a bigger deal than he thought it was.

"Whatever you say", he locked the van and turned on the alarm.

They talked like old friends and walked without hurry, enjoying every step and every crazy thing that they came up with. The road was longer than he remembered, and there was no sign of a gas station anywhere. He had never taken that way to go to his friend's house and wasn't going to admit to Betty that he was kind of lost. If only he had his phone number in his cell phone, he thought. But he was glad that it took him longer than expected and that time stretched a little between them. To be alone like that, with Betty, was something that he wouldn't want to have missed for the world. And with every single step he took he wondered if that was the chance he needed to tell her what he really thought about her and to finally open his heart and escape of the limbo he has been living of late. But he also treasured that little thing they had together. Whatever that might be called, he was afraid to lose it. It could all be shattered in pieces by taking just a stupid false move. And it was also ridiculous, he thought, how that woman made him feel so insecure of himself. That wasn't his style, to feel so powerless, so afraid of rejection.

It was already ten o'clock when they reached the community park. Betty looked up and noticed several stars that formed some sort of triangle in the firmament. She turned around and faced Gio.

"I bet you don't know that there are 8,479 visible stars from the Earth!"

Gio got bewitched by the enchanting smile she had as she spoke those words. But when he caught her eyes he noticed that it wasn't him the one she was looking at. That smile wasn't for him. Her eyes and her mind were focused somewhere far away, thinking about somebody else. Probably her Mr. Accountant, Gio thought bitterly, that same guy who filled her head with nonsense and claimed her as his possession without letting her experience what a real man of the world could offer her if she let him. He looked at her with arrogance unable to stop the words that came out of his mouth:

"And who the hell wastes space in their memory remembering that kind of useless thing?!"

Betty smile faded and she found hard to know what to respond to Gio´s sudden reaction to her comment. She wanted to shout 'I do!' but her face had already turned red, filled with anger and indignation and thought that it was a waste of time to even lower herself with a response. He was behaving like a complete jerk, she thought.

"But now, does your perfect Henry, know that... those three star over there of the summer triangle: Vega, Altair and Deneb inspired stories of lovers that were separated by The Galaxy and destiny and they can only meet once a year? That the seventh day of the seventh month, the Milky Way allows them to meet and consume their love in the eyes of men?" he said signaling an invisible line in the skies above their heads. "Or that the stars of Gemini never shine with the same intensity in the horizon because one dies as the other reborn into a new life thanks to a sacrifice of love?"

Betty made a face and wondered what Gio was trying to prove with all that waffle. But she decided not to say a word and let him boast himself in his contemplation of the stars by walking by his side, visibly annoyed. It wasn't the first time he got lost in thoughts unaware of the people around him.

"It's amazing how those little dots up there are able to inspire the minds of people. And at times, watching the skies give that sensation of immensity that, honestly, sometimes scare me. What if life is nothing more than a brief instant? What if we are only a thought, a second or an idea of a superior being and we might not actually exist? You know, exist as we conceive it. That's why I believe it doesn't matter what the others think of you. It's your own concept of life and your existence that defines who you are. ´Don't let anybody but those closest to you affect the opinion you have of yourself´".

"Who said that?"

"I did".

She stared. She knew that in other circumstances she could have found that speech interesting. But all she could think in that moment was that he gave himself too much importance and he was clearly trying to outsmart her and her Henry. Maybe, she convinced herself, it was because she was a woman and he felt utterly superior. Yes, she thought, he must be that type of man. She instinctively grumbled as response to such monologue and resumed walking across the park.

Gio, guessing what was going on in her mind or maybe just because he saw it in her face, stood still lost in thoughts.

"Betty, what do you think of me?"

Betty realized only two seconds afterwards that he had stopped his walking and, as she turned around, she saw him standing a few steps away from her. His face, lightened by the streetlights had that expression that she had never seen before.

"What?" she tried to smile embarrassingly, forgetting all the anger she had moments before and starting to feel a tightening sensation in her chest that frightened her.

She went to him and tried to take him friendly by the forearm encouraging him to resume his walk. But he didn't move an inch. Betty's fingers slipped through his arms but he didn't let her go and took her by hand. Gio´s countenance didn't change. The wrinkles in his forehead marked the seriousness of his expression, as those deep eyes, that seemed to devour her, pierced right through her.

"Tell me", he repeated. "What is that you really think of me?"

She found really hard to escape those inquiring eyes and could barely concentrate her gaze in the hand that Gio held tight between his.

"Because", he continued, his voice slightly breaking, "you do know how I feel about you, don't you?"

"Gio… please…"

"Don't you?" he insisted.

"Stop!"

Betty shouted so loud that it echoed all around the deserted park. She finally managed to leave his grasp, felt a horrifying panic invade her body and fled running away from him with all her strength.

She didn't know why she had reacted that way. But for an instant she felt scared to his words, the words that he hadn't pronounce yet but that she feared so much to hear. She stopped for a moment to catch her breath. Her anxious breathing tried with difficulty to bring oxygen to her lungs. She really didn't know what she was doing. She thought she heard his voice calling her and turned around searching for him into the shadows with wide opened eyes, but she didn't found him. She must have dreamed it. But still, she waited for a moment. Nothing. Her heart trembled inside her. And at the same time, in an irrational emotion, one part of Betty was disappointed for not seeing him ran after her.

She considered going back and check if he was alright.

_He´s a man. He knows how to take care of himself_.

Her breath didn't slow down. "What did Gio think he was?" she thought. What was he expecting of her? What could she have answered? One part of Betty, feared that her unspoken words could have ended up hurting him. She was so scared of hurting him that she panicked and ran like a little child. While the other part of her couldn't resist that gaze that demanded her, or even worse, that begged for an answer and she felt as if all the eyes of the world were focused on her.

Betty found a nightclub in the next block, she noticed a couple of taxi cabs parked in front and boarded one. As the driver took the road home, they passed close to the park. When they drove pass the spot she knew she left Gio, she looked through the window: he was gone.

———

**Next Chapter:**** As cold as Ice (part one)**


	6. Chapter V: As Cold as Ice 1rst Part

**Fifth Chapter: As Cold as Ice**

**-****Part One-**

Betty woke up totally worn out. She had tried getting back to sleep unsuccessfully, ending in an endless mind wandering around that weird episode last night. She had no idea how such simple words could have made her feel so uncomfortable. And she played in her mind several times the ardor of those eyes… No, she thought, she didn't want to remember those cursed eyes that made the little hairs of her skin rise with uncontained emotion.

She thought she should consider seriously stop seeing him… again. Because it wasn't the first time that she had cast Gio away from her life. Though she only did that then because Henry was getting jealous of Gio and the way he was always around her. Then she agreed because she was scared of losing Henry. But this time was different, she thought. Gio was affecting her own emotional health. Betty couldn't get any sleep the whole night of so much thinking every absurd theory that crossed her mind. And she ended up concluding, convincing herself, that Gio was nothing more than a spoiled child locked in the body of a man.

_And, good heavens, what a body!_

She decided that she wasn't going to let all those thoughts about Gio distress her anymore. So from that moment she found right the decision to keep some distance between them. "It's the best for the both of us", she told herself. But she wouldn't do that until she found out what exactly Gio meant with his words. Resolved with her ideas, she started her new day with renewed spirits.

She found herself in the front of a closed Deli shop that morning and had not other choice but to walk directly to her office. The comings and goings of her colleagues that morning kept her away from her absurd ramblings until she finally managed to sit in her desk and her mind started to reconstruct the events of the previous night all over again. She could feel the pores of her skin jump in fire at the very thought of the way Gio took her by the hand and how he had looked at her in such a passionate manner.

"What an idiot!"

She gave a quick glance to her wristwatch: half past one. She was kind of taken aback: he usually got the Mode deliveries done by noon. The tapping of her feet against the floor was enough indication of her growing anxiety.

"Why is he so late? Is it that nobody in this office is eating today?"

"Hello, princess, are you mad at me?" Henry kissed her in the cheek and just then Betty realized with a start that she has been talking aloud "I am gone for lunch now with Kenny to discuss some of yesterday's meeting issues. Want to join us?"

Somehow she felt disappointed and she couldn't erase it of the expression of her face. Henry wasn't the one she was expecting.

"No. I am doing something", she lied. "You two go ahead".

Alone again at her desk, she waited until two o'clock. Suddenly, an idea crossed her mind: he was the one avoiding her. And she started to seriously worry about that idea. Gio was not the type of man who got intimidated so easily. Not even that one time she yelled at him to stay away from her for ever, right there in front of all the people at Mode. Betty couldn't find the courage to pass even in front of his Deli that day. A weird feeling of fear and anxiety took her over. All her bravery faded from her soul and she preferred to wait for things to happen.

Days went by without seeing hide or hair of Gio. One morning she saw Rory strolling through the corridors of Mode, the very helper at ´Gio´s Deli´, the outspoken college girl with straight yet black hair and gothic accessories. She felt the urge to ask her about the whereabouts of her boss but she stopped herself on time. It was him who must reach her after all this time, she believed.

One more week. Nothing.

"Have you heard something or seen Gio, these days?"

Hilda shrugged. "Not a thing. Have you tried calling?"

Betty looked frustrated.

"Of course I tried calling him. I get the message that the number is not longer in service".

"Then, why don't you go to his house?"

"Because I haven't got the slightest idea where he lives". She was really embarrassed to admit that she never actually had been at Gio´s place. She had never ask him even if he even lived with his parents or by himself.

"Her mother doesn't even come to the salon anymore. She owes me money, by the way. And it would be nice if you could reach him. I need someone to help me bring the two new 'secadoras' from that old hag, Daisy, before she sells them to somebody else".

Betty stopped listening to Hilda and started complaining inside of her that Gio´s irracional behaviour was bordering the edges of inmaturity. Once again, she yielded and armed herself with courage decidely to confront Gio in his own deli place. Honestly, she told herself, it wasn't as if she wanted to see him. But it was the least she could do. Besides, they were supposed to be friends and friends didn't just disappear like that.

The little bell rang anouncing her entrance and she could notice that the whole place was packed with clients. But there wasn´t even the trace of Gio. She was disappointed for not seeing him at his usual place behind the counter. That was odd, she thought. She couldn't help but worry a little. She approached the queue of people that waited to be served aligned in front of the cash register.

"Your order?" the girl didn't even bother to take her eyes away from the order list she was organizing.

"Um", Betty hesitated, "Is Giovanni Rossi here?"

She finally raised her gaze, recognizing Betty and yet caring the same as if she hadn´t recognized her at all. "Not here".

Betty's heart suddenly sank to her feet and, even though she wanted to leave the place especially because of bustle of the protesting clients that waited behind her, she wasn't going to give up that chance so easily.

"Hey! Are you going to order or not?" Rori asked.

"Can I ask you to deliver him a message from me?"

"You see, that's going to be a problem. We don't know when he'll be back or if he will be back at all. We have a new manager, now".

The guy behind Betty started complaining aloud. Betty wasn't intimidated.

"Could I talk to the new manager, then?" Betty insisted.

"Hey, lady, step off the line if you are not ordering" shouted the guy behind her. "We are waiting here".

"Please?" She begged the girl, ignoring the man.

"Fine. Raul!" she yelled.

A man she had never seen before came from the office that used to belong to Gio. Rory pointed at Betty with her shining black enamel fingers.

"She wants to talk to you".

He approached to Betty who gave way to the next client in line.

"I am sorry" she started. "The owner, Giovanni Rossi…"

The man, who was of her same height, sported an easy-going smile and a buzzed haircut, interrupted her:

"I am the new owner of the place, cutie. Raul Velasquez. What can I do for you, pretty lady?" he said without tearing his eyes from her meaty legs under the line of her skirt, wrapped in those black nylon stockings.

"It's okay. Thank you".

She bolted to the door and walked up back to Mode feeling heavier with every step she took until she reached her desk.

_He's gone._

She couldn't believe how a man like Gio would be capable of selling his business just to avoid her. She knew she couldn't take all that credit. But, why else abandon his own dreams that he had worked so hard to achieve, just like that, out of the blues? No, that couldn't be the reason, she considered. But, what if it truly was? What if he despised her so much that he couldn't stand her presence? What if it was him who didn't want to see her never again?

Those thoughts haunted her even as she was there laying on her bed ready to sleep and to say goodbye to the parting day.

"He can't be so disinterested" she told Poquito, her teddy Bear that accompanied her in bed. "Besides, who am I to him, eh, Poquito? All this must be nothing more than a ridiculous misunderstanding".

Or maybe it wasn't, she thought. And really… No, she didn't want to think about that anymore. She sat on the border of the bed and drank a zip of water from the glass on top of her night table trying to ease the not in her throat.

Honestly, could it be possible that she had hurt Gio so badly?

What was it that she was really afraid of? She amazed of the amount of unanswered questions she had roaming inside her mind. Like many other times that she found herself thinking too much about Gio. Ever since last year, when she started updating her diary, in every entry his name was engraved for better or for worse. And it was true, she could try and hide it to the others but she couldn't deny to herself that she was attracted to that man.

She closed her eyes and felt her heart pound a little bit faster inside her chest and beat to beat she remembered the feeling of his sturdy arms wrapped around her that one time they danced together, in such a casual manner, an ordinary day. She felt ashamed many times before for her insistence in summoning those memories, but she also knew she couldn't control those feelings that loved to bash her in the most unexpected moments. At least she tried hard to keep them locked very close to her heart, crushing them, drowning them with protests and quarrels, day by day. She had convinced herself it was nothing but a silly fantasy, a purely physical attraction. Then, she thought, why on earth her heart was beating so fast in her chest and her hands, which never lied before, felt so terribly cold and humid and shaky? Why she could remember every single word he had said to her, every single one of them…

She dropped her body back until her head hit the pillow and everything was clear in front of her eyes as if the idea came struck by lighting. She closed her eyes in despair: she was in love with Giovanni Rossi.

—0—

It was Saturday evening. Hilda wasn't expecting to open the door and find Betty in front of the TV. She didn't think that she was actually watching whatever it was that they were broadcasting because she had a huge pile of papers in her lap and, crowing the pile, she had a Pyrex with a half eaten bread ´budin´. She looked very untidy and pale. But then, Hilda thought, she always looked that way.

Hilda placed the shopping back in the kitchen and looked around and didn't find any indication that Henry was there. She asked her sister: "Betty, are you alone? Where is he?"

"He's gone. I think he moved out" she responded while chewing a big piece of 'budin' in her mouth.

Hilda ran until she reached her side and touched her arm.

"Already? To Tucson?"

Betty looked at her awkwardly for a moment unable to understand what she was telling her, until she woke up from her lethargy.

"Oh, no. no. Henry is fine. He is in town".

Hilda rolled her eyes.

"Honestly, Betty. I find you very absent-minded, lately". Then she smiled, remembering something and went to the kitchen looking for her purse. "Betty, look what I found for you!", she came trotting waving a piece of paper between her fingers and placing it in Betty's free hand.

" 'Five percent off bonus on Brazilian bikini waxing?!' "

"No, Betty. Flip it off. The other side!".

Betty noticed some numbers scribbled in blue marker.

"What's this?"

Hilda smiled triumphantly: "Gio's number".

Betty pretended not to be surprised but her heart started racing like a martial drum in the battlefield. Her face suddenly lightened by a mysterious glow.

"How did you…?"

"His mother. I met her at the 99c store. She told me she had been out of town at with one of her sons. Didn't told me who, though. She'll be coming next Tuesday to get her nails done. They looked totally dreadful. She said she wanted to have the same color I am having…"

"Hilda. How did you manage to get his number from her so easily? I mean, she just gave it to you like that? Out of thin air?"

"Ay, Betty!" Hilda answered as if she were explaining the simple rules of life. "She's a mother. I am gorgeous. He is single. What did you expect?!"

Betty closed her ears to any sound in the room and focused all her attention to the treasure she had inside her hands. She found her fingers unconsciously caressing the surface of the paper. She placed the dessert on the table and started revising his notes with more enthusiasm than she had in days.

—0—

It was ten o'clock in the morning at the Mode Magazine offices. Besides sorting her boss's emails, there hadn't been anything interesting the whole morning. Betty was starving, so much she felt dull, just as she was feeling every day as of late. But the worst part was that she had lost appetite and her body was starting to get weary. She had to get something to eat whether she liked it or not, she thought. She decided to head down to the cafeteria of the offices. As she jumped out of the desk, she noticed the little note that Hilda had given her a few days before and that she hadn't found the courage to use. So much hungriness made her long for him and she heard her stomach cry at her that it was missing him so much, as well. She took the paper note with the numbers, and building up some courage by herself, introduced the numbers one by one in her mobile as she walked to the lift. She was so entertained by this that she barely noticed when she ran into a barrier that made her take a step back trying to keep the balance.

Her heart seemed to try to jump out of her throat out of the surprise.

She opened her eyes wide open as she found herself facing Gio. She parted her lips but she couldn't even articulate his name, no sound escaped her lips.

He lifted his index finger commanding her to wait a moment as he reached for his mobile in his black jeans pockets.

Betty noticed that she was still dialing and quickly closed her own phone. He stared for a second at the screen of his mobile and then put it back inside his pocket.

"Lost call" were the very first words of Giovanni Rossi after many days of absence.

Betty couldn't believe her eyes: his navy blue short sleeved shirt, his black leather wristwatch, his silver bracelets and ring, his long hair carefully combed, his shining dark eyes, his smile, his everything. Even though she was still shocked by the surprise she felt the strangest urge to hug him or maybe to slap him for making her worry in such a manner. She really wanted to shout something at him and all that she could mutter was:

"Gio! What are you doing here?"

"Delivering sandwiches" he said, lifting with his left hand the brown bag with the 'Gio´s Deli' logo stamped at one side, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

_Delivering sandwiches!? You've been missing for days!_

Betty explored the surface of that impassive face she had in front of her and was surprised of not being able to find the slightest trace of worry or sadness. As if those days had never existed, as if everything was just a product of her own imagination. She felt water fill her eyes and she pressed her lips trying to contain herself.

"How do you feel? Are you alright?" She managed to say lowering her eyes to the floor.

"Of course, why I shouldn't be?" he said sounding terribly casual. "Are you?"

"Of course" she said rising the tone of her voice and putting on a fake smile.

"Perfect! See you later, then", he waked passed her heading to another one of the Mode offices.

Betty felt a weird chilled stream of air whip her skin as she saw him leave her side. She thought it was his body what she had clashed with just a few moments ago, but it was more like an impenetrable wall of ice and stones that emerged between them.

That wasn't the same Gio she knew.

———

**Next Chapter:**** As cold as Ice (part two)**


	7. Chapter VI: As Cold as Ice 2nd Part

**Sixth Chapter: As Cold as Ice**

**-Part Two-**

The daily routines kept them busy, as if nothing had actually occurred between them and Betty almost had the impression to have dreamed it all. Gio didn't tell her anything about his long absence and their life returned to its normal course. In spite of all that, Betty´s heart was restless. It was as if she was the only one who noticed the distance growing between them. He appeared to be the same but something had changed and Betty could feel it so clearly that she could touch it with her fingers. Not that Gio treated her in a very different manner; he kept sharing his friendship with her with the same gentleness and kindness that he was used to before the incident, and that hurt her even more. The fact that she couldn't figure out what was going on inside his mind, if that night had affected him as much as it had affected her, if he bore any grudge against her or if it was nothing but a silly misunderstanding… Before it was her personal pastime to try to guess what was going on inside Gio´s mind; now she was in front of a solid, insurmountable piece of rock. One thing was certain: the hectic life of her friend seemed to keep him permanently away from her. And she suddenly noticed that it was her and only her that was looking for every single chance she could to sneak in 'Gio´s Deli' and have any kind of conversation with him.

That day Betty didn't even wait for the alarm of her digital agenda to announce in the computer monitor that it was already lunch time. She descended with quick steps until she was in front of the delicatessen and opened its door. There were fewer people than usual, probably because competition, the café in front, had published that very same day a couple of attractive lunch and french dessert combo. Surely a desperate tactic to compete with Gio´s place, she thought. Yet, the members of the regular clientele had already sat in their usual places; it was hard not to become addicted to the young italian's sandwiches. Betty found an empty place and sat in a corner. Gio spotted her from the kitchen, she made some signs to him from the distance and, after a few minutes, he approached her and placed on the table a dish and large ice tea glass crowned by a sophisticated decoration: an abstract sculpture on lemon and a heart shaped maraschino cherry.

"Wow! Aren't we creative today?!" Betty clapped.

"This isn't me, it was Rori" he said signaling his employee. "She learned how to make those cursed figures with lemons and has completely emptied the pantry. Truly a pain in the neck! I am trying to remember why I haven't fire her yet".

"Because she's the only one who can stand your obsessive perfectionism" Betty said taking a quick sip of her tea and pushing one of the nearby chairs with her foot inviting him to sit down. Gio didn't show any intention to accept the offer. "What?! You aren´t eating today?"

"I have a lot of work to do today," he said twirling the piece of cloth he held in his hand. "You need something else?"

"No. I am good. Thank you".

He didn't take two steps when Betty spoke to him again.

"So, you changed your number".

"Yeah! Yea!" he said turning back to face her but still holding the same distance with her. "Somebody smashed the other phone into a wall".

She looked awkwardly at him as he finished pronouncing that statement.

"Oh! That's weird", she said taking a bite of her sandwich.

"Yeah…" And that was all he ever said about those days he was gone, so she decided to stop asking.

He walked to the backroom and returned with a business card with his own printed phone number and several editions of 'Neo-writer's magazine' so Betty could entertain herself in her lunch break. Betty kept the card with the numbers she already knew by heart and quickly leafed through the first magazine and pushed it away almost instantly. She knew it was an impossible dream to even have the chance to have her name on the promising writers list of New York even for a day. She'd rather entertain herself spying through the corner of her eyes the comings and goings of Gio: see him argue with Rori, attend the long queues of clients, accept the goods of some supplier that had been waiting for him, clean a table, update the board… walking in front of her without even looking at her, just the very same way that days went by in front of her, with such indifference that frightened in secret.

—0—

That same night, she went to Henry's bachelor studio located in Manhattan. She didn't have an idea of the surprise that he had in mind:

"Tonight we are going to the new club that opened just around the corner", he told her giving her a big kiss on her lips.

Betty was seriously surprised. Henry didn't usually invite her to go out and even more rarely to a nightclub.

"But 'Papi' already treated us for a dinner at home", she protested placing her head on his chest. She reached him right at the heart. Henry was a very tall man and had such a slender body, built on the faraway plains of Arizona.

As attractive as the offer seemed to be, she was really tired of all that day's work and the mental burden that it represented. And she was really hungry, she would have preferred to continue the original plans of going back home for dinner.

"I don't feel comfortable with that. You know Gio is going to be there", Henry surprised himself saying to her. Maybe because he'd been noticing an awful quantity of paper waste with the logo of 'Gio's Deli' in the rubbish bins of his own apartment. It was as if Betty had suddenly forgotten that there were other fast food restaurants in Manhattan.

"He's not even there. It's been a while since he's even been at home".

Henry felt a little bit uncomfortable when he noticed the way she had pronounced that sentence.

"I guess he finally figured out that you weren't interested" he told her hugging her strongly, as if he were afraid that she was to escape from his arms.

"Henry!" Betty protested.

"I didn't feel at ease letting a guy like him prowl around you and your place. You know his intentions aren't honest. We have had this conversation before, Betty. I saw how he looked at you". He pulled away to look at her attentively in the eyes. "He was probably trying to take advantage of you. You are so naïve, Betty. You know he wasn't a good influence on you. Look how you were behaving lately. You let others manipulate you very easily. Sometimes, I don't even recognize you… like a complete stranger".

'No, Henry, that's just me. That's my own concept of myself. Gio just helped me discover it'. She wanted to tell him all that but she preferred to keep those words inside her heart and avoid another discussion. She was getting tired of so many arguments, they were wasting the little time they had together.

She honestly wanted to return back home with her family. She could imagine the laughter, even more frequent and louder when Gio was there on Saturday evenings. Sometimes, when she couldn't stay with Henry, she blended into that family gathering where Gio and her father invented the most delicious eccentricities in the kitchen to please the most demanding palate. Betty smiled. Except that one time that Gio tired to make a 'tres leches' dessert, he had never been any good with sweets. And then, if Gio decided to really go for it that night, there would be lively loud music in the radio and surely Hilda would have to substitute her at the dominoes table. Or maybe she didn't need to, she thought. Maybe Gio would bring a girl and would introduce her as his girlfriend. She always thought that he was good at picking up women. She witnessed him doing it in front of her, that night she urged him and Henry to practice their Casanova skills, testing the theory of a stupid book she had to write an article about. To think that that a man like Gio chose her among all the women he knew…

"See? Your mind keeps wandering at times and I feel you are not here, with me. Are you sure you are all right? Maybe you should start taking vitamins" Henry surprised her and made her wake from her daydreaming.

Betty cracked a sad smile. Henry had been very good to her. He didn't deserve that. They decided to stay in the apartment and to share together the intimacy of home. It was a hot summer evening and they could already feel the sultry drowsiness of the outside temperature. Henry placed an order at a Chinese take-away and that night they retired early to bed. Betty had no idea that disaffection could be so hard to bear. Activities that once were joyful and pleasant, felt so bitter and painful. She just counted the minutes, in the intimacy of her own mind, wishing for the conclusion of all that torture. She knew she was being unfair to Henry but she really didn't know how to express herself, even worse, if she even had the right to tell him. It seemed a pity to end, after all that fighting and struggling, what they had worked so hard to achieve, just because of a stupid whim of her heart. Betty Suarez couldn't afford to be selfish. Life had been very generous to a woman like her, she thought miserably. And even more then, when so much had been sacrificed for them to be together.

She felt an arm hug her from her back and she touched the hand that was in front of her. She felt certain emptiness in her stomach when her fingers brushed the naked wrist of her companion. What was she expecting to find? She asked herself. A couple of silver bracelets like she imagined once in a dream?

She turned around and smile to him that was there with her and not in her dreams. It was already daybreak and she found out that that night she couldn't get any sleep either. She looked through those shining eyes that had just woken up. She could no longer declare that she was completely happy. One part of her was tired of counting the days for her love story with Henry to shatter into pieces. No, she wasn't happy anymore. And she felt miserable as she notices with the sincerity that those eyes were looking at her, hoping that she looked them back in the same way. She told herself that she had to try harder, that she could try if she proposed it strongly. She owed it not only to him but to her also.

"Good morning, princess. Thinking about something?"

Betty gave him a little morning peck on the lips and rose from the bed.

"I think I'm going to finish my story today. I feel a lot of creative energy inside of me".

He looked at her a little bit disappointed. He would have wanted to hold her for the rest of the morning before getting ready to start a brand new day or maybe to chat about their plans for next Sunday, just an escape to all the problems that he had over him now that his first child had been born. He was missing the best moments of his childhood, he thought, but it was really difficult to stay away from the woman he had in front of him. The woman he loved above almost everything in his life.

Betty sat at the living room table and turned on Henry's notebook. There were still two hours until the Mode offices opened. She wasn't in a hurry: Henry lived only a few minutes away from the Meade building by train. And she hadn't lied to him when she told him that she was inspired. It was really true. After that entire problem with Gio she had felt such angst that forced her to escape into the fictitious world of her story, that very angst that inspired her to rewrite it completely from start to finish.

That day, after work, she returned back to her home in Queens. She tried to talk as little as she could with her family, she felt really tired. Even still, she found it hard to resist asking if her friend had visited the former night. Her father answered that he hadn't seen him for days.

Finally, back to her own bed she placed her hands over her eyes in a fruitless attempt to scare her thoughts. She sighed. She was really happy that Gio had returned to his business. She actually cared for his dreams as much as he cared for hers. Or at least as he used to care. He wasn't the same as before. She took away the fingers from her face and opened her arms resting on the mattress. At least in her room she could be honest with herself and she could free all her thoughts. Until she could figure out how to transform everything into a simple memory from her past, she rejoiced in the sweet pleasure of loving him in secret. Loving him for his way of seeing through life, for everything he had done fore her, for the way he cared for his family, for his challenges and his special way to fight adversities… for being Gio.

She remembered how she used to imagine him taking care of her and tried to evoke those days when she felt admired and protected by him. She admitted that she had been selfish for quite some time. She knew that she couldn't respond to his advances and yet, she longed for all those attentions he had for her and only for her. She never dared to confess that not even to her own sister, her most intimate confidante, confess how every moment she was around him she saw life was a little bit brighter and problem free. It wasn't just the way her body reacted to his it was how all her mind and soul relaxed in a nirvana of boiling emotions, as if they were only the two people in the whole room: Gio and her.

Then it was true what she had been terrified to admit, she thought, that those feelings weren't recent. That she had always liked to feel wanted by him, loved by him, admired by him. That night she escaped from him under the stars, she feared to reject his gentle offer because she couldn't accept it, because she was frightened that if she faced him nothing would ever be the same. Nothing back to how it was before, just like it was then: cold and painful.

When was it that she had really fallen in love with Gio? She surprised herself for being unable to recall the exact moment as much as she dug inside her memories. But one thing was certain: she always cared for what Gio thought of her. Always, ever since that first time he called her 'Mode Girl' and wronged her heart.

Frustrated, she laid in a fetal position between her sheets and thought of that chance that she had wasted. Or has it been really a chance? Maybe, it never was. There had been too many decisions taken out of timing, too many choices. And it was pointless to blame destiny or the situation. Past was past and her present was Henry. Life had given another chance with him. And chances usually happened once in a lifetime.

And with that thought in mind, she slept.

_You were such a fool, Betty Suarez! _

—0—

Half past nine in the afternoon. Some quick and sounding steps where heard all over the main corridor of the principal of the Meade Building. Betty violently opened the door to the delicatessen and crashed herself against the counter glass, finding an opening among the pack of clients waiting for their turn. She raised a hand and waved a memory stick shouting aloud:

"You are not going to believe this! I got positive marks at class today… excuse me, ma´am", she said pushing a woman that was standing by her side who couldn't help but protest against such incivility. But Betty ignored her and kept jumping out of joy, tiptoeing and leaning against the display glass. She met Gio´s brown eyes between the sweets jars over the counter. "They loved the story. I still can't believe it!"

Gio caught her hand with both his hands, took the memory from her and, without letting her go, placed a carefully wrapped package between her fingers.

"Your lunch", he said. He finally released her and waved good bye as he hurried to attend another customer. Betty tried to eye him among the crowd of people between them but desisted. She placed her hands in front of her mouth like a horn and, before leaving the place, shouted:

"Call me, then".

"Okay", he answered from afar and resumed whatever he was doing.

The night fell. Henry was fascinated by the final version of her story. But all his kisses and praising words couldn't untie the knot that had formed in throat of the young writer who wouldn't admit the reason of that bitter sadness that overcame her. Not even when she spent the whole night glancing at her phone waiting for the call that never happened.

The next two days of the week she had been chaotic at work. She wondered why Gio hadn't communicated with her yet. She checked for the tenth time the messages on her phone. Nothing. Just as she placed the receiver back in place the phone started screaming its particular sound. She placed the receiver back in her ear and waited for the voice from the other side of the line. Daniel. He needed her to assist him in a meeting in the conference room. She breathed heavily and submerged in the daily work routines.

She was back two hours later and noticed that someone had placed a little stamped silvery rimmed box and, on top of it, her memory flash drive. There wasn't any note or message of any kind. She opened the box and found a set of prints of her short story on beautiful glossy paper.

She looked around and found not even traces of Gio. She ran to the front desk and after enduring a few obscene pickle and mayo jokes on her, Betty managed to extract from Amanda, the receptionist, that effectively it was him who had come personally to leave the package at her desk.

Disappointed, Betty returned to her work station and drummed her fingers against the colorful surface of the cute little cardboard box, submerged in her thoughts.

—0—

It was Sunday morning and, for the lack of better plans, Betty had decided to spend the weekend at home. She descended the stairs still wrapped with her bathrobe, in her fluffy slippers and her bangs wrapped around a colorful hair-curler. As she went down to the kitchen looking for her morning coffee, she felt a presence sat on the couch.

"Hi, Justin".

"Hi, Betty", the voice that answered her made her turn around and return to the living room.

"Gio! What are you doing here?" She smacked the roller out of her hair, hurting one of her fingers in the process with a pin. "Ouch!"

She licked her finger, healing the reddened skin where sprouted a tiny blood drop.

"My mother is with Hilda" Gio answered without turning a hair. "A morning emergency. You know how women are. This morning my nephews will receive their first communion. As you can see, not every day one has the chance to dress up like this.

Betty took a better look of the dark suit and the silk tie that flaunted over his chest. The whole outfit enhanced his entire silhouette and gave him a charming and sober touch to his generally casual and eclectic personality. In contrast, Betty readjusted her bathrobe and crossed her feet in a failed attempt to hide the slippers that looked ridiculous in front of those brown leather shoes he was wearing. Gio couldn't help but smile to that gesture.

"Cute! So this is you in the mornings?"

Betty was about to counterattack with an unpleasant remark on his undertaker's suit but a better idea flashed through her mind:

"So, what did you think about it?"

"About what?"

"The story", she knew that he had been checking the sheets of paper that he himself had printed for her and that Betty had left scattered on the table the night before. "Don't play dumb".

"Oh, well" he said, taking his hand out of the bundle of paper and placing both of them over knees. "It was good".

" 'It was good?!' Is that all you have to say?"

An uncomfortable silence echoed through the room for a whole minute.

"For God´s sake!", Betty started to organize and disorganize the sheets on the table with nervous fingers, she piled them up in the box and took them away from Gio's reach. "After all this work we did together, I finally finished it. And that's all you have for me? I see, you didn't like what I did, is that it? Well, you shouldn't have disappeared on me like that for all that time without telling anybody, and leaving me all alone with all this work that you pushed me to do, to begin with".

She took a pause to breathe. And she ended up surprised at the realization of her own words.

"Are you done with all that fuss?" Gio said with a mock smirk in his face. Betty frowned at him. "If you are so interested in my opinion…" He accommodated himself in the couch as Betty waited attentively for his comments: "Well, it's just as I said: it was good".

Betty let out an infuriating groan, raising her gaze up to the ceiling of the room, hitting the floor with her slippers.

"Betty", he said laughing to Betty´s cute little tantrum, "you have to be more confident with you and your work! You don't need to please me or anyone else but yourself. Well, if you want me to say something, one thing is that I realize that, even though you changed names and the plots, you based the main characters from real life. Am I right?" Betty suddenly blushed. She wasn't expecting him to notice that so easily. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone".

Betty hugged the box in her bosom worried about the words the he was going to say afterwards.

"Yet, you took a lot of license, didn't you? Especially with the hero…" Betty´s heart skipped several beats. "Oh, man! You gave him so much courage, so much passion and determination! You made him so likable that I almost fell in love with the guy! It took me a hell of a lot of time to figure out it was actually Henry's alter ego. I guess that's how you picture your nice perfect charming boyfriend in your head".

Betty felt confused. Obviously, she didn't expect that reaction from Gio. She was about to say something but he stopped her.

"And your heroine! She still annoys me just like in the original version".

Betty frowned again and opened her mouth to protest.

"It's so late! Giovanni, we're leaving", a woman came striding from Hilda's salon and reached the door barely noticing Betty. "Thank you, Hilda", she kissed both her cheeks. "See you on Wednesday".

Hilda said goodbye to Mrs. Rossi and saw her leave in such a hurry. Gio raised himself from the seat and smiled a goodbye to Betty and Hilda closing the door behind him.

"So what do you think? Elegant, eh?"

"Yeah, I think he should wear it more often".

"I was talking about his mother's hairdo. Ay, Betty!" Hilda sank in the couch and spied through the window: "But Gio sure looks cute today".

"Not that cute anymore…" Betty said as she carried the printed pages to her room. She had lost her appetite.

———

**Next Chapter: Gio and Betty**


	8. Chapter VII: Gio and Betty

**Seventh Chapter : Gio and Betty**

The evening was dying and the trip back home took longer than expected. That time it was her who insisted in getting a ride home even after Gio explained that he had to make a long detour to get some supplies from one of his vendors. If she only knew that the whole trip was going to be half as boring. The radio of the van was stolen recently and their conversations were turning monosyllabic. Betty found that not only they were seldom together but that even if they were, she always felt that invisible wall towering between them and nothing seemed like it was before. Ever since that fatidic night…

Betty smiled sadly flying through her thoughts and contemplating the graffiti in the wall that extended by her right side dividing the railroad and the industrial area they were driving through. The very train that just a few seconds ago had deafeningly announced its presence and had awakened her for a moment. To her left, she saw a series of faded buildings, little storages or warehouses, with their metal doors locked and carefully chained that gave the slightest indication to ever been opened. In general, the whole street seemed deserted.

Without music in the radio she could hear loud and clear her own sigh out of boredom break the silence that had been growing between them the whole trip.

A sound, a metallic crack and the van stopped running in the middle of the street. Gio cursed.

"Honestly, I think you should get rid of this..." she paused trying to find the right word: "garbage".

"Hey, hey! Watch that language... It doesn't suit your character".

At least this whole incident got them to speak again, Betty thought. And for a moment she felt happy that the van started malfunctioning again. And she wasn't a bit concerned about being so prosaic. Ever since the very first day she met him she had been behaving differently, she felt free to do or say whatever she pleased, especially when he was around. Free to express herself, free to think differently. And she was really glad about it.

"Language or not it's still a huge piece of junk".

Gio chuckled. "Trust me, I can fix this".

_When have I heard that before?_

Gio unbuttoned his blue shirt and gave it to Betty.

"Take care of it. I'll be back in a minute".

He opened the door and jumped to the paving dressed with his black jeans and his white undershirt. Betty glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. Like a chameleonic effect, Gio seemed to blend in with the entire place surrounding them. She had to admit to herself that she felt secure by his side.

She heard the echo of his steps against the paving, turned back when she heard him open the back door of the van and watched him look for some tools and some water in the interior of the vehicle. Betty stayed sitting there with the crystal of the window down so she could breathe the delicious sweetness of the evening breeze. The 'minute' transformed into a quarter of an hour. Tired of waiting, she descended from the van, placing carefully the shirt that she had been taking care in her lap, in the back of Gio´s seat.

The street was still empty and Betty entertained herself looking at Gio tinkering with the van. From where she was standing she had a full view of his broad shoulder and uncovered arms bathed by that golden glow that the sunset rays painted in his tanned skin and that meticulous way to touch everything and to whisper, thinking aloud telling things to himself or maybe to the machine, as if it were alive, convincing the vehicle with sweet words, enticing it to respond to his caresses. Betty felt as if the whole scene was of a lover seducing a difficult woman, gently but persistently in his efforts. Honestly, she had never met a man like Gio.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she jumped as she found that she suddenly had an empty gallon and a weird device for starting the van right in front of her nose.

"Betty, would you please put this in the back? I think we are almost done".

She agreed and obediently placed the items in the back of the van. She closed the door at the same time that a group of suspicious youngsters, wrapped in a pungent smell of forbidden weeds, started surrounding her out of nowhere blocking her way back to Gio. As they approached her, one by one, they whistled unintelligibly words that were anything but pleasant, especially judging by the harsh tone of their voices and the ferocity of their eyes. Betty felt cornered against the door.

"Hey!" was heard from the front of the van. "Guys! Need something?"

"Cool, man. We're just leaving". One of the guys spit in the ground just inches from Betty's shoes and turned back pulling one of his friends by the shirt, returning over his own steps. The rest of the pack followed him.

Gio slammed the hood shut.

"You all better be".

As soon as she found an opening, Betty ran to the passenger's door and, closed herself in the van raising the crystal of the door. When Gio returned to the driver's seat he found her still fighting with the door. She hurried to answer without even waiting for the question:

"I can't… lock… this… door".

"Betty, calm down. It was nothing. They're gone. Calm down".

He slightly raised himself from his seat over her reaching the lock with his left hand and making sure that they were alone in the street looking through her door's wing mirror.

"You are safe with me. Don't be afraid".

And then, suddenly, time stopped.

Betty felt Gio so close to her that if she moved only an inch her lips would brush his neck. Her eyes took life of their own and she found hard to stop staring at those black and brown stones that joyfully touched the skin of that man that was leaning over her looking to the street through the mirror of her window.

Gio appeared to feel the warmth of Betty's breathing burn his almost bare chest causing him to turn and face her, ending up having his face right in front of hers.

Before she could even have time to think what she was doing, she grabbed the chance with her hands and kissed him.

There wasn't even the slightest reaction in those ice cold lips. Betty inched away and didn't even dare to look at him. She felt the blood abandon her cheeks and felt them turn pale realizing in a second that, if he ever felt anything for her, it had faded away completely from him leaving no trace at all. Her mind worked, in less than an instant, feelings of guilt, deception and agony. In the middle of a sudden panic attack she felt the urge to cry and wished with all her might that the earth would swallow her up at that very moment.

Then, suddenly she felt the warmth of Gio´s lips trap hers and stop her breathing and slowly made her feel caressed and enjoyed firmly and desperately as if she were the water that calmed his thirst. The panic turned into storm and her heart could finally breathe, loosing herself, letting herself be intoxicated by those kisses that embraced her again and again in a rhythmical and constant waltz.

And when she felt satisfied, she pulled him closer and kissed him back, as many other times she had dreamed doing in the secret intimacy of her dreams. So unexpectedly that Gio had to rest his hand in the back of her seat to avoid falling over her. And Betty felt protected and secured, pressed by Gio´s fervent strength that gently cornered her between his body and the seat: his arm so close to her face and his smell, pleasant mixture of cologne, grease and sweat that intoxicated her dangerously. And only then she finally felt the invisible wall that had formed between them fall down kiss by kiss.

Gio, on the other hand, felt the joy of surrendering himself to her in such a manner. He had locked his feelings inside him ever since that night that it was clear to him that Betty would never belong to him. He had lost all hope and swore not to sacrifice the pleasure of her company for those sweet rebellious feelings that nested in his heart. He went far away trying to bury them, struggling with them, battling against them until he managed to built a shell around him so he could finally look into her eyes again without dying a little inside. But this time it was her who had kissed him and he felt his body explode in a burst of restrained emotions. It was then, and only then, when he finally felt her respond to his affection that he, abandoned himself to his feelings that he had locked for such a long time. And he wasn't afraid to show her that he loved her as he never loved woman before her.

He took a breather and his body complained of the difficult position he'd been keeping until then and dropped himself back to the driver's seat. Betty stood still, her face tinted in deep carmine and her eyes wide open. She breathed noisily, feeling her chest trying to betray her and feared that Gio could hear the beats of her own heart that was driving her mad with its desperate and uncontrollable rumbling.

"Oh! That was good!" Gio said, grasping the steering wheel with his hands. And then he turned to face Betty at the very moment that she gave a start, her eyes full of fear and guilt.

"Oh my God! Oh God", she cried while two tears trailed her cheeks.

Gio looked at her in dismay.

"Henry! Oh my God!"

"Hey!" Gio called trying to comfort her.

"This is exactly what I tried to avoid. I betrayed him. Oh! no... no... Oh, my God!" she panicked nervously. She pressed her hand on her lips drowning a scream or maybe to try to stop crying in such an anxious and uncontrollable way.

"Hey!" he repeated gently taking away her hand from her face and holding it firmly in his. "Hey! Look at me".

She obeyed.

"Just this once. Just... be selfish for once in your life. No more tears, Betty. No. You deserve to be happy too, don't you think? Just take your time to decide what you want to do, alright? What you want, Betty. What you really want".

Betty saw her reflection against those dark eyes that were piercing her again. She knew that, this time, he wasn't expecting an answer. He was honestly trying to guide her to find her way. She watched him let go of her hand and, after slowly putting his shirt back on, he successfully started the engine. The van starred purring. Everything was all right.

She couldn't relieve what she was doing. What she had started with that kiss. What she had ended with the same kiss. That kiss that made her feel so free and weightless, so happy. And she really needed to be happy again. She wished for it with all her might, above everything else. She quickly wiped her tears with the back of her hands.

_You have to decide. What is it that you want? What is it you really want?_

"I want..." she first responded to herself aloud and, then to Gio as she met his gaze, "you".

Gio stared in shock at Betty's features that portrayed her own surprise at her own confession. He turned off the vehicle and replayed her last spoken words in his mind as he contemplated her. She looked like a little girl with those rosy cheeks and those eyes shaking through those steamed glasses stained by the display of passion that they have starred just a few minutes ago.

_Yes, she wants you. She chose you. _

"Betty! Betty..." he leaned back at her and, holding her neck with his hand, he pulled her closer and kissed her tenderly.

"I'm scared" escaped from her lips.

He smiled at her and whispered over her wet lips:

"Don't be... I'll be by your side" he buried his face inside her bushy hair and, kissing the fragile skin of her neck, he inhaled her scent before he returned to his position at his seat. "Let's go back home".

Gio started the van and noticed, by the corner of his eye, that Betty was still tense in her seat. He moved his hand from the gearshift to her hand and pressed it tenderly but firmly. Betty looked at those rough hands that wrapped her with warm affection and let her body unwind and smile to that man who was by her side. Betty didn't feel alone anymore.

———

**Next Chapter: Break up**


	9. Chapter VIII: Break up

**Eight Chapter: Break Up**

"Betty, we need to talk. I feel you so distant. Call me" was the message on Betty's mobile that morning. She started to feel out of breath. Her blood pressure rose dangerously and she closed the phone in haste throwing it against the bead as if it had been burning her hands. She didn't have enough courage to return his call.

She had been already dressed for work and she had believed to be valiant enough to face the day until she heard that sorrowful voice of Henry in the machine. Her hands started sweating and she felt her skin burn in fever and her legs failing her. Not even that time when she decided to break up with her very first boyfriend she'd been such a coward. Yet, then Henry hadn't been the real reason why she had broken up with Walter. This time she had stopped loving one for the sake of another love. She felt guilty, almost dirty and that just worsened the whole situation. It wasn't only her disappointment and the clear and present termination of her ephemeral relationship. She had chosen Gio. She loved Gio over Henry. Her body started shaking and she couldn't even imagine what to do when she finally encountered Henry.

She squeezed her own hands and tried to remember just the night before and the feeling of peace that Gio transmitted into her by holding her in such a secure manner that made her feel protected. For a brief moment she traveled into a world of memories and fantasies but then, she suddenly opened her eyes and reality slapped her on the face once more.

She grabbed the phone and, still shaking, picked up a number from the address list.

"Betty?", said a voice from the other side of the line waiting for an answer that didn't come, and then repeated, "Are you okay? Betty!"

'Gio, where are you? I need you', was the thought that crossed Betty's mind. But she never spoke the words. After a brief moment of pause her heart calmed down at last. It wasn't fair to him to make him share her burden. It was her problem, she thought. Just to hear his voice was enough to help her scatter her fears and to decide to stop lying to her heart and, even worse, to stop lying to Henry. Everything seemed to be so clear to her now. She would make the right thing. And she would do it herself.

"Gio, I just called you to wish you a nice day. You must be driving. Can I call to you again later?"

The voice on the line changed into a more serene and jovial tone almost as if he was speaking between smiles.

"Sure. Take care. Have a nice day, you too".

There was an awkward silence. Betty, acknowledging she was the one that made the call, was about to mutter a quick ´goodbye´ when she suddenly heard from the other side of the line the gentle and grave voice of Gio whisper to her:

"I want you".

Betty flushed and felt deep inside her that it was exactly what she wanted to hear and what gave her the strength to fight. There were no paradigms or concerns with Gio, only sincerity and spontaneity. Those are many of the things she still had to learn from him.

"What?!" was heard again through the speaker of the phone mixed with a little laugh. "You better get used to this…"

"Stop it. You are ruining the moment" Betty complained, tasting the words that he had spoken just few moments ago. She was always surprised of how that man was able to inject her so much calmness through his body, his gestures, his words. Definitely, she thought, she was walking the right path. "I want you, too… Gio".

"Now that's better", he told her. "Listen, Betty, I think we should speak later. Antonella is having the fun of her life with us. Stop it, Nella! Well, see you later. 'Ciao'".

Betty smiled as she closed the phone. She was going to stop putting the whole matter off. She grabbed her purse with determination and, after kissing goodbye her family, she walked to the next train station to travel her way to Manhattan.

_Make a decision. Do it now. It will only be worse later. _

In the office, Betty tried to avoid Henry the whole morning. That was not the place. She asked permission to Daniel and in her lunch time she went to Henry's apartment. She found the key in her purse and opened the door's lock. Before even entering the apartment, and still having the door knob between her fingers, she thought that probably it was going to be the last day she would cross that frame, where things would never be the same between them.

She had little time. She took a small black case that was cornered in his bedroom and started collecting the few things that belonged to her previous life with Henry. She couldn't help her many tears trailing from her eyes, clouding her sight and her heart. But it was better that way, she thought as she cleaned for the tenth time the crystal of her glasses, all those tears would wash away all that pain of love that she had inside her. And, though, she felt as if a part of her life had been abandoning her, she saw a light and knew that pain wouldn't last forever. That everything will just pass.

She closed the little case and wrote a small letter to Henry in her own handwriting. The words appeared clear in her mind, maybe because she had been thinking about them the whole night. She folded the note with care and wrote on the back:

´See you at 6 p.m´.

Betty gave one last look around her and sighed before closing the door behind her.

—0—

The hinges cried a small complaint as the door opened slowly, with shyness. Betty walked through the room with hesitant steps until she came upon that person that was sitting at the dining room table, the back bent forward, pensive, in silence. As he noticed her presence, Henry raised his gaze showing bloodshot desperate eyes through his glasses. Betty stopped her walking facing him, both her hands clinging to each other, trying to reassure her, her lips closed in a rigid horizontal line, her cheeks pale.

He showed her the piece of paper that he had been holding in his right hand and placed it back on the table.

"So… is this the end?" he asked. Betty didn't answer; she stood there firmly where she was. Henry rose from his seat and spoke with an almost inaudible voice. "Don't think this takes me by surprise… I … I feared this".

He gave a disappointed nod to Betty that broke her soul in two. She dared to step forward.

"Henry, I… I'm sorry. You know I'd loved to help you specially now… in this difficult time of your life…"

He cut her short. The least thing he wanted right then was her to pity him.

"Don't feel sorry. I'll be fine". There was a slight pause. And suddenly a cloud passed though his face. "Is it Gio?"

Betty didn't flinch an inch.

"Yes".

"Why him? Why couldn't it be just another guy?" he cried, when he noticed the alarmed expression of Betty's face he tried to regain control of all the anger he felt in that instant. A strong headache was killing him. "It's just that… I don't think you are doing right".

Betty squeezed her hands tighter and just stared at him in silence. Her heart started to heat up but she chose not to answer.

"Did he force you?"

_How dare you?!_

"Henry! Stop! Are you even listening to yourself? How could Gio force me to love him? You know what? He makes me happy!"

She stopped. It wasn't her intention that those words blurted out of her lips in such way. But the words were spoken and the harm was done. She couldn't take that back.

"He makes you happy… I guess I never could. I get it" Henry said bitterly "So, this is your final decision: you are leaving me for him".

"No, Henry" Betty faced him. "You are the one leaving me for your family".

"He's not the right man for you, Betty".

She said firmly: "It's my own choice".

"It's your choice. I know. I'm sorry", he admitted defeated. He sat down again. Nothing in Betty behavior seemed to surprise him anymore.

"I really don't want you to be mad at me" she approached until she touched his shoulders. "I don't know how but I wish…"

Henry made a little movement with his shoulders that made Betty took away her hands from him.

"Don't expect us to be friends. Don't ask me that, please. I'm sorry".

"Henry…"

"Please".

He covered his face with his hands. He wasn't crying then but he knew that he soon would be. They kept still, frozen in time, like that for a moment, without muttering a word.

"Good bye, Henry".

She placed the keys in the little table at the living room.

"Betty".

She turned and faced him who had come to her.

"I hope you know someday that all I wanted was another chance to make you happy".

She smiled sadly and left.

She felt faint with each and every step she took. And with each step, she imagined leaving behind a piece of her life that would never return back. She opened the main door and Gio raised his gaze to look at her, sitting as he had been, there, in the appartment entrance staircase. He stood up as he noticed her face distorted by pain. Betty jumped to him, holding on to him for salvation like shripwreck debris in the middle of a stormed sea, with despair and angst. She hugged him and cried sinking her face in his shoulder.

He wispered soothing words to her ear trying to ease the pain that he could only imagine she felt at that moment. She unhid her face and looked at him with reddened eyes.

"I loved him, Gio".

"I know".

She bursted again in tears ruining the deep blue sweater Gio was wearing. But he didn't care, he held her tighter to his body. He knew life battles were hard and painful and they always ended with a winner and a loser. This was no victory, he thought. Up there lied a defeated Henry and it was nobodys fault. He understood that Henry had loved her and he was more than convinced that Betty had loved him in equal or higher extent. But what they had was over and there was nothing neither of them could do about it. Getting attached to a lost cause would only destroy them. And they had already so many wounds, wounds that he knew were profound, wounds that indicated that Betty got the worse part of the deal. He was aware that it was going to be a thorny road but he was ready to walk it by her side.

"Just give me one chance. Give me this chance and I promise you I´ll make you forget everything. I swear". He never said the words but, instead, transformed his thoughts into love and channeled them through his generous fingers that never stopped caressing her back, gently and firmly, as if he tried to materialize each sentence, every thought.

Standing like that, hugging in the middle of the street, over the walkway, they started to attract attention. The passersby looked at them in curiosity. She kept convulsioning in his arms. But he guided her to the van parked in front of them.

"Let's go home".

—0—

Gio opened the door and found himself facing a very preoccupied Hilda. He let Betty escape from his arms to her sister's who, amidst the surprise, switched glances between him and Betty. Ignacio surged from the kitchen.

Hilda walked up the stairs with her to Betty's room. Gio followed them with his eyes. He felt a hand on his shoulders.

"We need to talk" , Ignacio urged him to accompany him to the kitchen and he obeyed. As much as he tried to make him talk about what was happening to his daughter, he didn't told him a thing. He was nobody in her life yet. He had no right. And yet, he didn't left the house until late that night. Between dinner and beers the hours passed in the Suarez house. And he found no resistance. He started to believe that Betty's father was preventing him to leave. And, not that he needed any encouragement. During all the time he stayed there, he couldn't stop glancing at the ceiling craving to know how Betty was feeling.

And he did give her space. They rarely met during day but they called each and every night. He was satisfied just to hear her voice and to know she was feeling better. Though many times he felt the urge to run to her house and console her when he heard her weak voice across the line. He never knew the deepness of his feelings for her until then that he tested his strength. To hear her speak of another guy, cry for another guy, suffer for another guy, were things he never thought he would ever allow himself to do. Until then. Then he knew that Betty was special to him and his feelings for her were real and tangible like his own skin.

———

**Next Chapter: Date (part one)**


	10. Chapter IX: Date 1rst Part

**Ninth Chapter: Date**

**-Part One-**

Gio placed his left hand under his head, on the pillow and entertained himself observing the roof of his bedroom.

"So, how was work today?" he spoke through the mobile that he held against his right earlobe.

"Awful", answered Betty's voice who had just snuggled down under the ´Beauty and the Beast´ stamped blankets. "I'd rather not had woken up this morning and spent those hours in the office".

"What you'd have done then, 'linda', if you had the whole day for yourself?"

"Well, for starters… I'd have spent it with you".

Struck by a sudden idea as he heard her words, Gio sprang up, sitting on the bed in such an abrupt manner that the book that had been resting open on his chest fell down to the bed loosing the bookmark of the page he was reading.

"Then, let's do it! Skip work for a day and be with me".

Betty listened to him in surprise. It had been several days that Gio let her suture her pain with tears and Betty was thankful. She felt she had thrown a huge weight behind her. Things at Mode were running as normal and, even though Henry avoided her in the office, the work load and the jokes from her colleagues didn't help her recover her usual mood. She knew that Gio had done a great sacrifice by waiting until they can finally start their time together. But it was worthless to keep on waiting. She had this urge to be with him for days, so the offer didn't look such a bad idea.

"I guess I could ask for a day off or maybe take it from the rest of my vacations days"

"I guess you could. In my case, all I have to do is give Raul and Rori a few instructions and everything will go smoothly as if I were there", he tried to convince himself more than believe his own words. "So, do you agree? How about… friday?"

Betty hesitated for a moment.

"Maybe I shouldn't. I haven't got my paycheck yet and the accounting department is being having problems this week ever since Henry took a couple of days off to take care of some business in Tucson..."

A shadow passed through Betty's face. Gio couldn't see it but he guessed her painful expression from the tone of her voice through the line.

"No, no, no. No Henry. No Henry this Friday. You know what? Ask for that day off! After all, you know I will obviously pay for everything".

"Hold it, Casanova", she smiled a little. "I also have plans for our first date. And don't even think I'm letting you pay for all of it. I know business is not going well lately. And I have a job, do you remember?"

"Interesting! A feminist!" he joked. "Another trait to add to your vast co-curricular skills list! Okay, first, I should stop telling you things about my business because you always use it against me. Besides, we aren't married..." he paused for a brief second, "yet. And, second, don't worry about money, we'll manage".

They spent several minutes discussing the variety of things they could do together and since they couldn't agree on what to do, they resolved to share their time in whatever each of them pleased. They divided the time in four sections and sorted them out. There was just a simple condition:

"Whatever you come up with we must not spend a single dime on cash".

"Or credit card", she completed.

"Oh man! It's awful having such a smart girlfriend: makes it harder to win with you. Fine, without using the credit card".

"So. It's a deal. I think it will be fun".

"As long as, neither of us gets tired of being together for a whole full day".

"Or as long as we don't end up killing each other", she laughed.

"See? You're getting humorous again".

"I wasn't trying to be funny".

"Well, like it or not, you amuse me a lot". Gio made a slight pause after checking the alarm clock on his night table. "It's kind of late. So... sleep tight. In fact, I am sure you're going to have pleasant dreams tonight".

"Am I? And what exactly you think I'll be dreaming tonight?"

"Just… dream of friday, okay? Forget about everything else. Good night, Betty. Dream of me... naked".

"There you go, again!" she protested before hanging up.

—0—

It was Friday morning. Betty hopped off the 7 train and found herself in the Fifth Avenue station platform. She looked around and in the distance she made out a figure leaning against one of the red painted iron posts. The short blue and emerald dress she was wearing fluttered as she ran to that one who was searching for her among the crowd that had descended the train cars.

"Gio! You're early".

"And you're late", he told her unable to take his eyes out of the crimson flower placed in the very middle point of her v-shaped dress neckline.

"That's no way to treat your girl in her first date" Betty followed his eyes to where Gio was looking and found her own dress slightly showing her cleavage in spite of the huge wool knit rose she had covering her bosoms. She tried to fold her arms around her chest but Gio stopped her with both his hands.

"It's about time you understand that you are a very attractive woman" he approached to her slowly. "Come on, 'linda', give me a kiss".

Betty turned her face away and Gio's lips ended up kissing her left cheek.

"Not until I find out what you have prepared for me. It's our first date, don't forget it".

Gio followed her game. He grabbed her wrist and urged her to follow him. The sound of his brown leather boots resounded against the metal of the stairs that directed them to the superior platform. Betty let him lead her through the narrow corridor that connected them to the next station and walked submissively by his side, contemplating the thin black lines on his gray short sleeved shirt that showed his broad sun tanned arms and those black jeans that gave shape to his well built body.

It wasn't hard for them to walk through the platforms, there were few people strolling in the station that day. They stopped in front of a fifty-something tall and dark skinned man who was resting against one of the white walls of the corridor cleaning a musical instrument.

"Giovanni, my friend", said the man to Gio who responded the greeting with a strong hand shake. "When are you planning to visit your father? You know he asks a lot about you.

"I didn't come here today to talk about him, Duval. Fran, Joseph, how is everything going?" A caucasian young man in his thirties, was unpacking a weird instrument and waved at them, sitting astride in the corridor floor. By his side, a woman and two youngsters were discussing something with low voices. Gio introduced Betty as his girlfriend to each one of the members of the little band and Betty greeted them having her facial color match the rose in her dress.

A signal by the man that appeared to be leading the group and the notes started to resound softly and sweetly through out the alley. Betty and Gio listened a couple of lively melodies until there was a sudden silence and the man, the one everyone called Duval, said out loud to the small public that had congregated around them and anyone else that cared to hear:

"This song is called 'Bel fi' and it's dedicated to this beautiful lady" and then pointed to Betty among all the people around her.

The musical cords flew through the air, beautiful and sublimes. Fran was the vocalist and her voice surged into a strange language that Betty didn't understand at all but so delicious to her ears that she couldn't care less to be able to understand the words spoken to her.

Gio took her by the hands and entwined his fingers with hers. He pushed her gently to the wall, away from the crowd that, enchanted, conglomerated around the musicians. Betty felt the cold sensation of the wall as she approached to it. The white tiles were humid maybe because of the proximity of the roots of the trees that abounded in the ground area above the metro station. And there was certain freshness in the air, even though it was already the last week of june. Gio placed himself by Betty's side protecting her like a shield of the people that came walking from behind them.

"Close your eyes", he told her.

"But we are in the subway, it's dangerous".

He pulled down her hand.

"You have to give the music the chance to enter inside of you" he got closer to her and whispered to her ear. "Believe me. Close your eyes".

_Let yourself go. _

Betty felt the warm tickling of his breath brush the skin of her ear and she couldn't help but obey him. His warmth so close to her made her tremble and feel a pleasant pain in her chest and her lower abdomen. She perceived the notes vibrate inside her body and she forgot the sound of the walking steps, the murmuring voices and the echo. She felt the pressure of the hand that was holding her own, the touch of his arm, the warmth of his close breathing. As the chords intensified and fell down suddenly and then rose again in a celestial choir, almost inhuman, she let her body tremble in ecstasy and abandoned herself powerless, just like the aftertaste of an orgasmic sensation. She felt a little dizziness and lost her balance.

Two strong arms held her firmly.

"Woah! Don't fall down".

"It was wonderful…" was everything Betty could manage to say.

He smiled. He had enjoyed watching her 'feeling' by his side. He wasn't going to tell her that he had been contemplating her all the time she was there with her eyes closed, having the secret pleasure of capturing every little detail of her face in his memory.

When Gio found it appropriate, they said goodbye and left. They talked cheerfully about the music, still holding hands. Gio explained Betty the different type of jazz that existed. Especially the creole jazz which Duval was addicted and served as the master of the artists who were with him. He told her that he had a small café and that the song dedicated to her was composed for his late wife who had studied with Gio in college. She died very young a few years ago.

"The song speaks of true love and the waiting in the afterlife. I don't know why every time I hear it sounds differently inside of me. It's really amazing".

They were so entertained with all that talk that they didn't notice the summer heat that smacked their bodies as they surged from the subway station. The sky was clear, but it had rained a few hours before and the breeze rustled through the green leaves of the trees of the Bryant park, impregnating everything of the fresh scent of wet grass.

"What was that large instrument the red-haired man was playing?"

"The Jazz Bassoon", Gio answered. "Joseph is quite talented, don't you think?"

Betty let go of his hand and faced the man she had in front of him.

"Who are you and where's my Gio?

"Your Gio? I bet you thought you had me all figured out". He smiled and tried to kiss her. She looked around giving a back step and pushing him gently by the chest.

"No! In Public, no" she protested.

"Okay", he said combing with his fingers the loose strands of hair that fell on his forehead and then crossed his arms telling her. "It's your turn now. What you have in mind?"

Betty quickly scanned the surrounding area and asked where he had parked the van.

"I left it near my sister's, she lives here in Manhattan in Tribeca. Where are you planning to take me?"

"Close by, we are going to the Central Park".

"Deal", Gio said turning around going back his steps to the direction of the entrance of the metro station.

"No", she grabbed him by the border of the shirt making him stop. "We are going to walk".

"But we can take the subway".

"I left my pass at home and I don't have any more tickets. And you can't buy me one. We can't spend cash, remember?"

"So that means you didn't come prepared to our date?" he cried.

"I did. But I didn't know you were going to have the brilliant idea of not taking the van with you. Besides, it's my date time. You will have to submit to my orders".

"And you are enjoying every minute of it, aren't you?" She had that commanding look that drove him crazy. "Fine. We'll walk".

"And we'll talk..." She took hold of his left arm and dragged him to the 6th avenue walkway. "It's not that far. And you can profit from the exercise".

Betty joked putting her hand in his belly but it slipped by accident under the shirt and ended up touching his skin. Gio felt her so close as she pressed her hand against his body in such intimate manner that he sensed a sudden jolt of warmth invading every inch of him in response of that unexpected caress. He reacted quickly grabbing her hand, and pulled it away.

"Stop. It tickles", was all he could come up with. He cursed himself by that stupid reaction. It was obvious Betty that was only being playful without naughty intentions. Betty, embarrassed, pulled her hand from his grasp and, blushing, turned her face to the street trying to avoid his eyes.

A convertible sports car with loud music passed by their side from behind and stopped in the corner of 45 street and Sixth Avenue waiting for the streetlight to change. As they waited for their own walking signal she felt Gio's arm vibrating as he was mumbling the tune. Finally it was their turn to cross the street and the car started ostentatiously and marched at full speed. Gio kept mumbling the song louder and louder as the vehicle disappeared from their sight.

Betty warned him:

"Don't sing, let's just walk… can we just talk?"

Gio laughed aloud and squeezed one of her cheeks with the fingers of his right hand.

"What's wrong, Robert Philip? You don't like my singing?"

She paused for a moment thinking the words she just heard and, understanding the joke, grinned showing all those metal covered teeth.

"Wait a minute, Giselle. Does the grand Giovanni Rossi find pleasure in watching childish Disney films?"

"Ha! As a matter of fact I do. And I don't feel one bit ashamed to admit it. I have a younger sister, remember".

She looked at him again as if facing an exotic animal, with fascination.

_Who is this guy? _

They contemplated, as they strolled, the architecture of buildings, looking like New York tourists, glancing at the window displays of the stores, making jokes of the people that passed them by, making up the most absurd stories, trying to compete about who knew more of the city's history. Betty took a deep breath aspiring the heavy smell of the city she loved in the arms of this man and she felt that she could do that forever.

He also felt comfortable with her, walking leisurely under the sun. They detoured several blocks to watch this or that and then returned back to the main street laughing at the most recent nonsense or witty remark that they had come up with. They shared some of their daily lives thoughts, their dreams, their plans, walking arm to arm. They surprised themselves of how many things they had in common. He felt proud of her, proud of himself, of them being together like that, like a perfect couple in Manhattan.

By the time they were in front of the Central Park it was already noon and they felt exhausted.

_Honestly, you both really need to exercise more frequently. _

The park extended in front of their eyes as they waited for a chance to cross the street.

"Oh, man!" Gio complained."To think we still have more walking and talking to do!"

"Shh! Stop nagging. Look, it's our turn". Betty encouraged him to move as pulling him by the hands running and laughing in the middle of the streets.

And he laughed back at her and followed her lead. He thought that probably to the people around them, they were a couple of young newly weds. He contemplated her black hair move lively and loose as she ran in front of him, having a life in its own and that became brighter and shiner under the heating sun over their heads. Without forewarning, Betty had transformed before his eyes into another woman ever since he met her the first time, so sad so repressed. This was the real Betty that was before him and he was more than decided to discover again.

"Hurry up!" she said as she reached the walkway before him and turned to face him making his dress flutter.

She was so beautiful.

Gio became distracted, tripped and one of his boots sank irremediably in a puddle of rainwater in the street. Betty contemplated him hopping until he came close to her and started shaking off the water of his boot. She was so amused to the whole scene that she started laughing right there.

"Am I a clown to you?"

"Well, you do make me laugh a lot. But it's not my problem that you have such big feet. I don't think I've seen bigger feet as those before in my life", she lied with a mock expression in her face. She surprised herself at her own teasing. Or maybe not as much, she was starting to enjoy saying things that would exercise each other's wits just for the fun of it. She smiled waiting for the comment she knew he was about to respond.

Gio cursed as he accidentally hit the concrete trying to shake the water of his shoe.

Betty was still amused at the whole thing.

"What? No more sexual innuendos for the rest of the day? I am disappointed at you.

"Sexual innuendos? What are you talking about?" He stopped his failed attempt to dry his boots and reviewed mentally their last exchange of words.

_Big feet… big hands… _

"Oh!" he suddenly realized with a surprised face and lowered his gaze down to his pants.

_Not as witty as I thought you were._

"You are suddenly interested in the size of my pickle!" His naughty smile broadened lightening his face. "I can't believe you are the same girl I met just months ago. Or was your mind always so dirty? Betty, I can't believe my ears: my pickle!!"

She was so damn cute smiling at him with such an innocent face. He put both hands on his knees and started laughing out loud forgetting completely on his wet shoe.

Betty blushed as she saw him laugh so lively causing the appearance of a small dimple on his left check that hypnotized her for a brief moment. She smiled and felt free to a world without the invisible walls of composure and shame, feeling the adrenaline inside her body. And she secretly told herself she was really happy. That the cloudy days were finally over".

"You do have that effect on me, Giovanni Rossi.", she thought inside her mind.

It was the beginning of the summer and the street was full of people. They where surrounded by people passing by and the sound of horses and carriages and vehicles and the noises of the big city but all that faded away and all she heard was his laugh fresh and clear. Suddenly, they were alone in the world: just him and her.

She walked two steps and, when she was in front of Gio, she placed her lips on his, the arms around his shoulders and kissed him, silencing his laugh. He was surprised at first by that sudden kiss and he raised his body in such a way that Betty ended up hanging from his neck. After a second he pulled away and smiled mimicking her high-pitched voice:

"What? In public?!"

"Stop it "she hit him gently his shoulder. "You know this is not easy for me".

"Let me help you".

He kissed her wrapping his arms around her waist and as he secured her, effortlessly. And, with his lips still on hers, he lifted her up turning around his heels. When her feet touched the ground again he dipped her almost touching the ground and parting her lips with his, he kissed her again in a passionate and honest embrace.

A whistle made Betty open her eyes and awake from the spell. One of the tourist horse carriage drivers that were parked in the streets was laughing loudly enjoying the spectacle they were making of themselves.

"You go, man!" he cheered Gio. Two of the tourists that were in the carriage started taking photos.

All the bravery she had previously collected melted and turned into iced waters that streamed from her face to her feet, as her cheeks suddenly turned red with embarrassment.

"You see!" she complained hiding her face in his neck, realizing just then the amount of people that were staring at them "Let's get out of here, please?"

A group of joggers went clapping and laughing as they marched by their side and ended up entering the park.

He kissed her forehead and agreed to her plea. But not until he waved goodbyes to their amused audience: "There, there. Show is over. Thank you very much for your attention. Thank you, thank you".

Some of them kept clapping and whistling, much to Betty's dismay, as Gio dragged her out of the concurrence to the direction of the nearest corner of the park. Didn't open her eyes until they reached the Fifth Avenue.

"You can unhide now "he said gently. Betty surged from the hideout she had found in his right chest, between his neck and the warmth of his arms. She met Gio's face and discovered he was about to burst out laughing right there.

Gio's phone rang and he answered the call. Betty recognized the faint sound of a woman's voice. He let go of her and walked a couple of steps away from her as he started muttering monosyllables lowering his voice. He ended the call and returned back to her.

"Okay, I think it's my turn now. Unless you want to keep kissing me in the park which I am totally up for".

"No, I am hungry", she answered trying to convince herself she wasn't a little bit concerned by that mysterious call.

"Then food is my specialty. It goes in my account. Give me a second. Let me check if everything is ready".

He called his brother-in-law, his sister's husband, and gave him a few directions so he could locate them and pick them up.

———

**Next Chapter: Date (part two)**


	11. Chapter X: Date 2nd Part

**Tenth Chapter: Date**

**-part two-**

Niklas Keller parked in front of a small residential building at the streets of Tribeca. Gio helped Betty jump off the vehicle. Betty noticed stone façade and thought that even if it looked modest, it seemed quite expensive to live in such a building. She discovered in one of the third floor windows a couple of protruding faces greeting them from the heights.

"Uncle Anny. Uncle Anny", the voices yelled at unison until they disappeared into the interior of the apartment.

Betty, Gio and the husband of the oldest of the Rossi siblings stopped in front of a door. Niklas introduced the key and just as he finished unlocking the door, two little people sprang out of the open crack and rushed towards Gio´s legs pushing Betty aside.

"Hi, guys", Gio answered as he tousled the hair of the twins who were grinning clinging to his legs.

"Hi, Uncle Anny" said the blue eyed girl and dark curly hair that formed an aura around her rounded face.

He lifted them both, holding one in each arm and entered the apartment. Once inside, he twirled them around, turning around his heels, triggering the excitement of the children. He stopped and got closer to Betty.

"Leah, Angelo, I want you to meet Aunt Betty".

"Hi, Aunt Etty!" the little girl looked at the new comer with interest and, without prior notice, hurriedly put her arms around the neck of a very surprised Betty who barely had time to hold her.

"Don't worry", Gio said watching Leah play with a strand of Betty's hair. "Those are two hyperactive kids but totally inoffensive".

Betty smiled to the ´Family Guy´ she had in front of her and her heart warmed at such discovery.

"Ha! ´Uncle Anny´. A very manly name!" She said sarcastically.

"For your information, that was the first word this little lady ever spoke", he trapped her little nose with two fingers of his free hand. "Where's mommy?" he asked Angelo who was playing with the silver bead collar Gio was wearing in his neck.

"Mommy is here". A woman entered the living room followed by her husband, Niklas. Gio´s sister was young; she didn't look beyond thirty five. She was a little bit on the plump side, but those extra pounds were precisely what gave her that sensual charming appearance that characterized her. The hair, of a reddish golden tone, was carefully combed into large curls, long, reaching a little bit farther down his shoulders, imprisoned in a fancy hairpin. She had dark, expressive and radiant eyes, just like Gio, that looked at everything with joyful curiosity.

"I had to drag her away from her 'new masterpiece'. I knew she wouldn't have it ready on time", said her husband in a heavy German accent.

"Shut up, Nik. Behave yourself, we have guests today. Ah! Giovanni, you came earlier than expected". She kissed both his cheeks. "Oh! You must be Betty. I am Anna Maria".

Betty blushed.

"Betty Suarez. Pleased to meet you".

"Ah! Don't be such a stuck up!" She kissed her cheeks as Betty was taken aback at her choice of words. "Isn't she adorable? Come, come, Angelo. Leah, don't bother the visitor! Come help me in the kitchen! And you, don't stay there like a stick. For God's sake, Nik, bring them something to drink".

Niklas went to the mini-bar while Gio and Betty sat at the same time on the couch. Ana Maria winked at Gio and disappeared inside the apartment dragging the children by the hands.

The man shouted from across the room.

"So, Betty. Are you old enough to drink?"

She blushed. Gio answered on her behalf.

"Hell's yeah she is! Don't be fooled by that angelic face of hers, Niklas. I myself remember asking her once if she was thirty".

Betty hit his leg with her knee.

"Gio, I am right here" she said between her teeth. "I haven't disappeared, you know?"

"Sorry to be so blunt", chuckled Nik. "You don't look a year older than twenty. Don't mind Gio too much. He has a thing for teasing people". He gave her a green and pink crystal colored cocktail. And was quick to explain noticing the curious expression that crossed Betty´s face: "Stimulates the appetite".

"Thank you", Betty answered right before she tasted the sweet liquid in her mouth.

"I am sure she doesn't need an appetizer. She has an excellent stomach", Gio hid his mocking smile behind his whisky glass. It was never too early to drink at his sister's house.

The dinner table was a genuine display of abundance and elegance: succulent dishes of the most diverse taste and origins to the reach of her hand. Just as her own family, it seemed that at the Kellers lunch was the most important meal of the day, maybe due to the italian heritage of Anna Maria. Betty tasted all dishes, supervised constantly by Anna, who could hardly wait for Betty's opinion about her creations.

Anna stood for a moment contemplating Betty masterfully chew one of her wine braised ribs, and said:

"Wow! You have such a thick and funny hair".

'_Funny '?!_

Betty touched instinctively her hair trying to fix it, surprised by the words of Gio's sister who continued with blunt expression:

"I wish I had your hair".

Gio was about to say something but Niklas beat him to it.

"It's really no surprise, Anna, by the amount of chemicals you apply to your hair! You have no idea how much I miss your old thick black straight hair. Now you are all reddish like a carrot and all… bald".

Betty's eyebrows shot up amazed by his indelicacy to his wife. But all the punishment Niklas received was a gentle pat on the shoulder, that he responded with a kiss in the cheek of his wife and they both ended laughing at his remark. Betty, feeling awkward at first, couldn't deny that whole scene seemed oddly familiar. Is that the way outsiders visualized her own family?

Gio, still holding his knife with his right hand, touched Betty's arm soliciting her attention. She leaned closer to hear his words.

"Did you know that these two", he said pointing at them with the help of the knife, "are all well positioned professional chefs in Manhattan? But don't let them brag about it, they are nothing more than mere employees".

They laughed louder bursting with renewed energy.

_Perhaps too much wine at the table?_

"You are just jealous, Giovanni. You know, we are well connected. We know some people in the field. You know we could introduce you to the industry with the help of some of our friends".

Gio refused to start the usual conversation he had with the pair. He knew there was no possible way to make them realize that he just wanted to do things his own way.

"Betty, you should have seen the look on Papa´s face when Gio told him he would make his own deli and become a sandwich maker. If Papa would've had any decent money he would've disowned him that very moment".

Gio's expression darkened all of a sudden but he tried not to let anyone notice his concern. Gio looked at Betty as if he was apologizing for his sister's comment.

"Family of chefs, a curse".

She smiled at him. She knew what was it to be rejected for trying to break the mold and do things differently. How hard it was for the others to accept that people like them could have their own dreams and ambition. She placed her hand in his lap trying to communicate to him that she understood him. Their eyes met and they stood there in silence for what they thought was an eternity.

Then, loud laughing noises released them from their enchantment. Four pairs of eyes were staring at them attentively. Gio coughed and Betty hurried to fish a small shrimp and make herself busy chewing and staring at her own plate.

Ana Maria looked with her shining brown eyes through the glass of white wine she was holding, and said with a rose colored smile.

"You are truly nothing like those girls Giovanny is used to bring us here".

The husband, who was hugging her at that time, nodded agreeing with her.

"I'm glad", she finished, taking another sip of her wine.

Betty would've been more flabbergasted if she weren't busy trying to unchoke the piece of shrimp that got stuck on her trout. She was definitely not used to be the center of attention.

Gio helped her patting her back and bringing her a glass of water as he gave a reproaching look to his sister.

"My family insists in embarrassing me in public".

"I didn't say anything wrong, did I, Nik?"

"Of course you didn't. Giovanny, definitely the best girl you've ever brought here. I think you should introduce her to your mother and marry her straight away before she dumps you".

It was really hard for Betty to discern when they were joking or being sarcastic or even serious. The Kellers were a very fascinating family.

"Woah, Nik! I will be surprised that she doesn't dump him right now. You are scaring the hell out of her with that marriage proposal idea".

"There's nothing wrong with that. Do you remember ours?"

"How can I ever forget? I almost hit you with a baseball bat for picking me up so late for our date that night. Your delays always drive me crazy".

"But you know you love me anyway".

The started kissing each other right there in the table forgetting everything and everyone around them. The twins started clapping at them, used to such display of affections. Gio turned to Betty.

"Don't mind them. They are totally insane".

"How long have they been married?" she whispered to him.

"Eight long years and they still behave like teenagers".

"Amazing", Betty said looking through the corner of her eyes how they kept kissing at the dining table. Gio rolled his eyes.

"Okay. You don't have to keep up with this", he threw his cloth napkin on the table. "You finished?"

"Oh yes I have", Betty quickly responded. The truth, she was really feeling a little bit uncomfortable. The both rose from the table and left the two lovebirds enjoy their moment.

They sat on the living room couch for a while before leaving the house. Gio opened his arms and Betty cuddled in them her head resting in his shoulder.

"Ah! Silence, at last! I have to apologize, my sister is so loud. But don't mind them too much. I enjoy their company but most of the time they annoy me with all their fighting and bickering. The only ones who really have fun with their quarrels are Angelo and Leah".

"They fight that often?"

"They want to make themselves believe they are fighting but in reality they just enjoy biting each other's tails for the fun of it. You know, they used to challenge each other at the local culinary competitions, and they were eternal rivals at the hotel they were working years ago. The day they suddenly announced their engagement I wasn't the only one surprised. Ridiculous!"

"I don't think I've ever met another couple that could quarrel so much and could still enjoy their own company with such passion".

"Me neither. My sister was always quite unique".

_They say love is blind... _

Gio and Betty bid their farewells to the Kellers at last and directed to the place Gio had parked the van. He drove her through the East River to her home in Queens. As they stepped at the front of her house he told her:

"Okay, recap: we got a free concert in the subway, you had me walking and talking until exhaustion". He received the predictable punch in the arm and got amused by Betty's fiery expression. "We also had a five star chef quality free lunch at my sister's. Okay, I'm done with my part of the bargain. The rest of the night is yours. Or I could come up with something for tonight. Maybe, dance?

"Actually I have a surprise for you. I have two tickets to... somewhere. I'm not telling you". She thought for a minute. "Just, don't get too dressed up. Please, you can dress casually for the place we are heading tonight".

He tried to make her spill the information threatening her in thousand ways and exercising his wit at her but she didn't give in.

"Fine. Now, surprise or not, you are cheating anyways. We agreed not to make any money expenditures in this date".

"For your information, I didn't pay a single penny. I told Daniel about this date when I asked for the day off and he offered the tickets to me".

Gio's forehead wrinkled.

"What's with that look?" Betty inquired.

"We will later have to talk about your boss' recurrent disposition of giving you presents".

"You know he's just being friendly".

"I don't believe in male selfless friendship".

"Now this is you being a jackass. How about you? You were always freely doing me favors without any type of underlying interest..."

He gave her a significative look waiting for her to extract the obvious response from his expression.

"...or was there?" Betty concluded, turning red.

"Exactly", Gio lifted an eyebrow immediately he noticed she understood his message. "I am the living proof that there is not such thing as a boy-girl innocent friendship".

"Well, that's your problem. Daniel is my friend and that's how things are". She hit her tights with her palms in frustration. "This is great! Now I have a freaking jealous boyfriend. I guess there is not such a thing as a perfect man!"

He waved his hand in a conciliatory manner.

"You know what? For tonight, forget about it. No more fighting, okay?"

She smiled him back and glared at him. She would have plenty of time to change his concept of Daniel. He continued:

"So, where are you taking me tonight, again?"

"Nice try but it's still a surprise. I´m sure you will like it".

"It better be. I was just thinking about taking you dancing to this new disco in Brooklyn".

Betty new he would enjoy the surprise. She didn't even hesitate in responding to Daniel when he asked her if she wanted anything special for her date. She got closer to Gio and embraced him, feeling the warm of his chest against her face.

"Is it too corny to tell you that I had one of the best days of my life?"

Gio smiled as he stroked her hair.

"Yes it is very corny… Ouch!". Betty pinched his belly in revenge. This time not taking him by surprise, he playfully grabbed her naughty hand and entangled his fingers with hers resting their hands over his own heart that beat rhythmically like music. They stood there for a moment, hugging in the middle of the streets, at the sight of the whole neighborhood, in silence, with no other sound but the gentle whisper of their own respiration.

"Betty …"

The phone rang loudly interrupting him. Gio let go of Betty's hand and searched for the device inside the pockets of his pants. He answered. Betty could perceive a voice, the same woman's voice, shouting from the other line in excitement. She couldn't recognize what she was saying and tried to lean closer. Gio turned away from her and descended the steps. When he reached the walkway he started whispering quick words. He was pacing, making circles in the sidewalk and Betty could catch a sudden bright smile on his face as she heard him say:

"I'll be there. Wait for me. I promise. Don't leave, okay?"

She stopped staring at him when she realized he had ended the conversation. He returned to where Betty was standing.

"Well, 'linda', I'll have to go now".

Betty's thick and unkempt eyebrows rose when she noticed that Gio wasn't even going to try to give her an explanation. But then, she thought, it was only their first day together as a couple. She decided to let that ball roll and quickly erased any doubt or fear from her mind.

"Besides, I also have a little surprise for you", he said playing with a strand of Betty's hair between his fingers. "And you need to get ready for the continuation of our date tonight".

She approached to his lips smelling him.

"And you need to get rid of that whisky smell".

"What? What's wrong with it? I smell like a man".

"You smell like a drunkard".

He chuckled.

"I only had a drink!"

"No kiss for you. You hear me?"

"Nah! I don't mind. I'll collect it tonight with principal and interest".

He combed his own hair with his hand and winked at her before turning around and heading to his vehicle. He said a final goodbye and drove away. As Betty saw him disappearing in the street, she realized she was glad she opened her heart to that man and gave him a chance.

—0—

"Ready!" Hilda handled her a mirror. Hilda had already done Betty the nails and her hair was as straight as she could possibly make it. The hair lingered on one side of her face and her bangs where gone from her now exposed forehead beautifully imprisoned by two golden hairpins. Betty's immediate reaction was to touch her bare forehead in a hopeless attempt to cover it.

Hilda slapped her hand.

"Stop it! You'll ruin it!"

Ignacio whistled upon looking his pretty daughter and Justin intervened:

"You look totally 'chick'. But these hairpins don't go well with your belt. If only you had something golden in here", he touched her waist.

Betty rose from the chair where she had spent the last few hours and directed herself to the door Hilda´s Beautilities beauty parlor.

"I have one golden belt. I'll look for it".

As she walked through the kitchen on her way to the upper rooms she heard Hilda shouting:

"Don't forget to wear the good underwear".

Ignacio and Justin's eyes converged on Hilda giving her a disapproving look.

"What? Just saying", she said defensively.

Betty rolled her eyes at Hilda's comment but, as she went upstairs she couldn't help but consider the idea for a moment and her face went on fire, just by thinking about it. Could it be possible that they could get that close tonight? She thought. After all, Gio was still Gio. When she reached her dorm door she rested in the doorframe and gently touched her lips with her fingers. Closing her eyes, she recalled his scent and let her fertile imagination transport her to some darker place, alone together in the shadows, as she fantasized about his lips pressing her own and his warmth overpower her body against the cold floor of his van…

_What are you thinking, naughty girl. That's not your style!_

It might seem as if those sudden thoughts didn't blend with her usual style. But she thought as she opened her wardrobe looking for her belt, that she was always another person when she was around Gio: more freely, more uninhibited, more herself when she was by his side. And if only she could be even closer, in his arms, body against body, his breath in her neck, feeling each and every one of his kisses weaken her and excite her and make her feel desired, unique, beautiful…

The clicking sound of the door knob awakened her.

"Gio?"

Hilda's face pocked through the open door.

"No, no, he hasn't arrived yet. I was wondering if you want to dine with us while you wait for him". She approached to the messy drawer. "And you didn't have to spend so much time just to change your sexy underwear, eh? I could have lent you one of mine".

Betty hit her in the arm.

"Ew! You know I wouldn't do that", she whispered. "It's our first date".

Hilda took between her fingers one of the panties that Betty had put aside. They were of a shining lipstick red.

"Whatever you say, Betty". She turned around and walked back to the door returning to the kitchen. "We will be waiting for you, don't take too long".

Betty quickly picked up all the mess she did in the room and then went down to join her family for dinner.

They hadn't just finished dinner when Betty started to feel irritated.

"That's it! He's cheating on me!"

Betty jumped from the living room couch where she was sitting. Hilda kept chewing her slice of 'Budin' and talked without taking her eyes of the television.

"Betty, how can he cheat on you? This is only your first date".

Betty started trailing up and down the living room.

"I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! I never should have trusted Gio. He must have been flirting with that…" she put on a disgusted face to emphasize her words, "that huge ass, ridiculous yellow eyes, slutty brunette".

"Aunt Betty!" Justin complained.

"Betty! Watch your language in front of Justin".

"Well, I knew I recognized her smutty voice on the phone".

"Aunt Betty!" Justin cried for the second time.

Hilda turned her eyes to the direction where Betty was standing.

"What! Betty, you are telling me you who she is?"

Betty turned to face Hilda. Her face was red in anger.

"It must be her! I saw her throw herself at him on the deli. In front of my own eyes! And he's been receiving those weird calls from that woman the whole day".

Hilda made a gesture and continued watching the TV program: "So you know nothing. I knew it".

"It´s got to be her!", she continued her walking routine in the living room. "Crap! Oh, Crap! I should have never trusted Gio".

"Aunt Betty, could you please keep it down? I'm trying to listen here".

"Why not you better start doing your homework" Hilda scolded.

"Mom! I did it hours ago" he brought his chair closer to the television. "No way I'm missing the 'Grey's Anatomy' marathon".

Hilda turned to Betty frustrated.

"I can't believe you just started dating the man and you're already jealous of him. Stop being so paranoid. He might just be arriving a bit late".

" 'Late' was two hours ago. Right now I am more likely 'ditched' ", she weighted her own words and her anger turned to sadness.

_Ditched._

She really was having great expectations for that night. She slumped in the couch again. She wanted so much to start crying that very moment.

"Ay! Betty. Have you tried calling him?"

"Of course I have! I left him dozens of messages and nothing. He doesn't return my calls at all".

"Maybe something happened. He must have a reason to be late. Don't you trust him?"

"No, I don't "she said.

Hilda looked at her with a stern face.

"Then, maybe you don't love him after all".

"Well, maybe I don't "she said angrily.

"Ay! Come on, Betty", Hilda took advantage of the short commercial pause to look for a glass of water and started talking aloud, upsetting Justin in the process. "You've spent all evening telling us how fantastic and perfect was your day. 'Gio this and Gio that…' If you really like this man then I think you should just trust him unconditionally".

"Did you trust Santos unconditionally?"

Hilda returned to her seat with a glass of water and another slice of 'Budin'.

"Of course I didn't. But I'm your older sister so I must tell you these things".

Betty stood up again. She searched thoroughly inside her purse, took out two tickets and placed them on the table. Her father, Ignacio, that had been listening to a baseball game in the kitchen walked into the room alarmed by their loud voices and glanced at the tickets:

"For tonight's Yankees and Mets game and in a box suite. Wow!"

"They are useless now", she said with a disillusioned face. "I'm going to go to bed now. If Gio decides to call or come to beg to the door, tell him I don't want to see his guilty face anymore".

She stomped out with noisy steps that smashed heavily against the wood of the stairs.

"Whatever, Betty" Hilda muttered and concentrated back on the television show.

She walked around her room taking off her clothes and throwing them in the floor as she spoke to herself.

"If Gio thinks I'm going to wait for him and 'hit him with a bat' and then kiss him accepting any lame excuse he can come up with, he's very wrong. It might work on his sister but he's mistaken if he thinks it works on me".

When she found herself naked, left with nothing but the sparkly red underwear, Betty sighed and dropped herself heavily in the bed.

Her almost perfect date was over, she thought. There was only one chance in life for a first date in any relationship and Giovanni Rossi totally ruined it.

———

**Next Chapter: Good bye**


	12. Chapter XI: Goodbye

**Chapter eleventh: Goodbye**

Betty walked to the office later that Saturday morning to take care of several pending tasks. Daniel Mead had been very complacent with her, letting her take a day off knowing the amount of work that they had due next week. The ride on the train had been a very pleasant trip from Queens to Manhattan and Betty found time to reflect, relaxing her body with the soothing rocking of the train car and thus calming the disappointment of the previous day. The truth was that Gio hadn't communicated with her since their last goodbye and she was starting to get worried. It wasn't like Gio to do things like that, she thought. She was about to dial his number but something stopped her. He was the one who should call her, the thought flashed through her mind. Her pride conquered her heart and she returned her cellphone to its place inside her purse.

The lobby of the Meade Building looked deserted. Her eyes drifted to 'Gio´s Deli'. She knew he opened every Sunday until two in the afternoon. She frowned and, in spite of all that morning thinking, she couldn't control her feet that guided her directly to the small business. Her lips formed a thin line and opened the door violently ready to have a not very pleasant conversation with the owner of the place.

Raul and Rori were sitting at a table. As they heard the sudden noise of the door opening before them, they stopped their chattering and looked straight at Betty.

"We're sorry. We're not opening today, ma´am", Raul said. Betty stopped her walking and looked around. There were no signs of Gio and the whole place was a mess.

"Don't be silly. That's his girlfriend "said the Rori.

Raul scanned Betty from head to toe until he confirmed that he really knew her. Then he jumped of his seat and got closer to Betty with a preoccupied look in his face.

"You want to come with us?"

She didn´t understood the question and stepped back. She disliked the behavior of that man, so obviously a Casanova, and remembered the libidinous way he had stared at her the first time they met. Instead she asked:

"Giovanni Rossi, is he here?"

Raul and Rori shared a look.

"Could it be possible...? You don't know, yet?

"No, what happened?" Betty felt her own voice shake. She disapproved of mystery and she started to feel a cold chill in the base of her spine.

"Please, sit down" Raul ordered her reaching a chair for her.

Betty obeyed reluctantly. Her eyes couldn't fully understand the words that their lips pronounced; she heard voices in an incomprehensible language, phrases that her brain couldn't process and they lingered echoing inside her mind.

An accident. Last night. Emergency. Surgery. Hospital.

_That can't be happening!_

They had to repeat themselves several times before her body reacted in a sudden panic attack. She found it hard to breath and she asphyxiated with each gasp of breath she tried to take.

"Where is him? Where?"

"I can take you", said the man. "Just give me a second".

She let them shepherd her like an insane patient. And it took her the whole trip to the hospital to regain her conscience and understand the seriousness of the situation. She felt horrible for having doubts about trusting Gio and she swallowed her tears so she could cry them afterwards. At that time all she wanted was to see him and confirm that he was out of danger.

At the hospital, Raul guided her to a door of a room. A dark skinned man and a woman of asian features were chatting in the corridor, without even trying to pretend to conceal their voices.

"Yamir, he is in serious condition after the quick surgery. The nurse told me he spoke nonsense's in his sleep the whole night" said the chocolate skin brunette of shining hair and dark eyes, standing like a mirror reflection of the young man that was by her side.

"I think he could be crazy. I heard her sister this morning…" said Yamir.

Raul got closer to the woman and grabbed her by the arm. She shut up immediately and offered a scrutinizing look at Betty.

"Who´s her?" asked Indira, Yamir´s sister.

Raul whispered something to them and then the woman looked at her with growing interest, in a way that would make Amanda seem like Mother Theresa.

Betty wasn't in the mood for the same harassment that she was suffering at Mode. Making a polite gesture to them she advanced to the door in front of where they were standing. She knocked it gently and opened it cautiously.

A woman was sitting at the edge of the bed having her back to where Betty was standing. The woman turned and Betty recognized Gio's sister.

"Betty…" was heard from behind Anna Maria who moved and exposed him who was lying on the hospital bed.

Ana Maria rose from where she was sitting and hugged Betty affectionately kissing her cheek. Betty didn't move having her eyes fixated in those that were looking back at her imploringly from the sickbed. Gio's sister pointed to the night table and the containers that were carefully placed on top of it, she took her purse and put it on her shoulders.

"I'm going to get some fresh air and get 'Mama' here. Betty, dear, try to make him drink the milk. He needs it to reinforce the action of one of his medications".

Betty nodded and, once they were alone, she got closer to him and laid her hand on top of the one that was reaching for hers. Gio's skin was pale, the hair untidy and, for the first time, she saw his neglected face covered with growing facial hair; his eyes, ever so vivacious and radiant, ready to annoy her just for the fun of it, had a gloomy and tired spirit trapped inside them surrounded by a pair of profound purple circles.

Gio seemed to notice her preoccupation and broke the silence between them.

"They tell me I was lucky…" his voice was trembling and distant. Gio had to make a great amount of effort to pronounce the words that struggled out of his mouth "Couldn't call you… just… conscious a few hours ago".

"Yes, they just told me. Yes" acknowledged Betty unable to take her eyes out of the bruises that painted his forehead, his neck, his arms. "It doesn't matter".

"Hey, 'linda'. I'm fine… Don't worry about me" he tried to sit, in vain. Betty approached to him and helped him. He could notice how Betty quivered at the touch of his feverish skin. But he really hated to preoccupy her and tried to crack a smile in his face. "I'll be much better soon… in a couple of days".

Betty felt relieved by his words, but still couldn't hide a hint of worry in her persona. She wanted to hug him that very instant and cry on his shoulders. But she knew better and tried with all her might to show more signs of the preoccupation that was consuming her soul. She went to the table, took the glass of milk and brought it near to him. Gio rejected the offer with a disgusted face.

"Milk… is for… babies. And I…" he stopped talking feeling a scorching pain that disfigured his features. Betty tried to run and look for help but Gio asked her to stay put. She found a chair and pulled it closer to the bed. Gio leaned back and took a deep breath feeling million knives tearing his body into pieces "This happens… stay with me".

He closed his eyes and tried to rest.

Betty obeyed and caressed his arms while she looked at every inch of him praying in silence. Ten minutes passed and Gio opened his eyes slowly and searched for her. Betty smiled as she noticed they had regained their usual vitality. Gio pressed with affection the hand that was holding his and spoke to her with clear and uninterrupted voice:

"I'm going to take you in a horse carriage ride for your birthday".

Betty laughed at such ridiculous idea. Gio had the same sense of humor even in the middle of crisis, she thought. She used her free hand and combed the loosen hair strands that were covering Gio's sweaty forehead.

"But… you know my birthday was two months ago".

He continued, ignoring her words.

"You'll see. You'll be mad at me at first but then…" he stopped and looked to the white painted roof over their heads as if replaying scenes in his mind. "You know, you'll like my new haircut".

"I like your hair the way it is now", Betty kept nursing his head.

He smiled without taking his eyes of the space between him and the roof avoiding to meet Betty's eyes.

"I'm scared" he said. "Scared to disappear. Scared that I won't be the one who'll be with you".

"I'm not going anywhere" Betty rose from her chair and leaned over him without letting go of his hand, trying to meet his gaze that was still lost between her and some place behind her that only he could see. "I'm here with you".

"But you will also be there for him".

He closed his eyes for an instant pressing hard them hard as if trying to contain the tears. He opened his eyelids slowly, his face returned to its former passiveness and his eyes, that were again opaque and sick, focused back at her.

"Hi, 'linda' ".

Betty felt like breathing again and was unexpectedly relieved upon hearing his broken struggling voice again. She sank back in the chair.

"You had me worried. What was that all about?"

Gio made a funny gesture and responded.

"What's this… whole fuss… about that damned milk?!"

A man walked away from the door where he'd been resting for quite some time and Betty tried to wonder when he had entered the room. He got closer to the chair where Betty was sitting. He was tall young man with exotic but plain features that radiated a certain special charm. Betty recognized that face.

"When he has seizures like those he doesn't seem to remember anything he said or did", the man put his hand in Betty's shoulder in a soothing manner. "The doctor insist that it's commonly caused by injuries in his gigantic head".

Gio forced a smile on his face that looked more like a smirk due to the effort for moving his facial muscles.

"Trying to scare my girl away, Robert?"

Betty switched glances from Gio to Robert, the previous sandwich cart employee at Mode before Gio took that position. She moved uncomfortably in her chair. Robert pulled away his hand from Betty's shoulders.

"I'm not doing anything bad. You and your sharp tongue, Gio. I shouldn´t have come. I'm just here because Indira insists in helping your mother. Anyways", he said addressing Betty, "who's the pretty lady?"

Betty wrinkled her face. Gio laughed briefly.

"You know her… from Mode".

Robert put a surprised face and tried to remember the face of the woman in front of him. Betty smiled, out of politeness, showing her 'bracers' in their entire splendor. He stepped back and yelled:

"Yeah, yeah. I remember".

At that very moment the dark skinned woman of shiny long hair opened the door and, without taking her fierce eyes at Betty, hugged Robert and whispered something to his ear. Then an unbelievable amount of people filled the room dragging Betty into a corner. Betty stood there, away from the whole scene observing how everyone interacted so naturally between them as she stood there alone in the shadows.

She could hear Gio´s mother, a usually strong woman, crying like a young little girl in a nearby couch hugged by another woman of similar age.

"I was told it was nobody's fault. That it was an accident. So many times I've told him to change that vehicle. That it will bring nothing but trouble and look at him now…"

"There. There. Calm down."

"How do you want me to calm down if it's my baby, my baby!" Mrs. Rossi buried her face in her handkerchief and kept sobbing.

Betty noticed a group of young people encircle Gio's bed; probably his friends. In the opposite corner, Ana Maria insisted to fight Gio's vehement refusal to drink the milk. Meanwhile, little Angelo and Leah ran up and down the hallway paying no attention to Antonella who tried to make them behave in a more decent manner at the hospital. New friends and family seemed to arrive by the minute, so many people who barely noticed Betty's presence sitting alone in a small chair at her corner.

Betty looked upon everything in silence and patience. She really didn't want to leave. But she also knew she was not yet the heroine in Gio's life, not even a supporting character. As things were then, she was little more than a intruder.

Another hour passed and Gio's older sister left with her young ones after thanking Betty for her company.

Yamir approached her indicating her it was about time to leave and that he would be the one to bring her home. Betty had to say goodbye to Gio earlier than she expected. His many aunts claimed the room as their territory discussing home remedies around the bed, gossiping about the family or the neighborhood and asking thousand questions to Gio.

"Yamir… I need a favor" Gio asked before they left. He got closer to his face to help him and listened with attention, made a nod and returned to Betty's side.

The road back home in Jackson Heights was silent and eternal. Yamir walked Betty to the front of the Suarez house and informed Betty that Gio asked him to look for her tomorrow evening if she found it convenient.

"I wouldn't really want to trouble you…" started Betty but he interrupted her.

"It's no bother. Besides tomorrow morning I have to run an errant around this area. So, see you then".

Betty nodded and opened the door to her house where all the members of her small family came to greet her and console her. Everyone knew how much she must be suffering.

—0—

Sunday in the afternoon. They were finally alone. She took hold of his hand. The day had been terrible with all those visitors and nurses entering and leaving the room and the analysis and treatments were becoming more and more frequent. The evening was dying and visiting hours where almost over. Gio's family left to grab some dinner and Betty grasped the moment and offered to stay in the room with him. He made an effort and pointed to a backpack resting in the couch at the corner. She looked for it returned back to her seat by his side. She knew Yamirhad brought it when he kindly drove her to the hospital. Following Gio's instructions, she unzipped the backpack and found a small package gift wrapped gift on top of the clothes that were inside it. The wrapping was smudged with some dark smears that she refused to believethey looked so much like blood stains. On top of the gift she found a small envelope that carried a business card and a note. The card had written: 'Cynthia Perez. Executive assistant. Neo"writer's magazine'.

She looked at Gio questioning with her eyes but he made a gesture commanding her to read the note. She recognized Gio's handwriting printed in blue ink:

'Dear Betty:

Today I'm also having the best day of my life.

Thanks for making me your hero.

Love,

Gio"

p.s. Check page 23'

"Gio, What's this?" Betty had to lean over him to hear his words.

"Your surprise. Open it".

She unwrapped it carefully. He forced a smile hiding the pain that was torturing him. But it was quite amusing to watch how she didn't tear the wrapping like everybody else but how she carefully took out every single tape and unfolded the paper as if it was the present in itself. Betty found a volume of the famous launch magazine for new fiction writers: 'Neo-writers'. Just to be mentioned in that cultural magazine was like appearing in front of the whole narrative circle of New York. Her heart started beating in madness. Her trembling hands were barely able to find page 23. She read: 'Betty Suarez'. She caressed her printed name with her fingers. It was real, her short story was published: the first part of three installments.

Several daring tears filled her eyes without prior warning, trailing her cheeks and falling down ruining the magazine. Gio managed to laugh as he noticed that Betty could barely take off her eyes from the pages of the magazine.

"They loved it", Gio said. The gratifying feeling of pleasing her like that had been more rewarding than he expected.

"Gio", she could say drying her tears of joy that clouded her sight. "You better get well soon. I'll punish you for this. How come you never told me? I'm going to kiss you and hug you for the rest of your life".

"Silly", he muttered visibly pleased.

She pressed her lips against his and, remembering a scene, she pulled away and asked:

"You didn't sleep with her, did you?"

"Of course not... You earned this yourself", he laughed at Betty's remark. But a new stroke made his face twist in pain and he started coughing very badly. Betty noticed several blood drops stain the sheets.

_So painful._

Betty panicked and was about to stand up but he took hold her arm preventing her to leave his side. A nurse opened the door, and after a quick check up, started massaging the bare chest of Gio with a special ointment. Betty noticed in horror the profundity of Gio's bruises all over his body. After a short while, he stopped coughing. The nurse changed the serum and left.

He asked her to lean on him once more. She did so. Gio whispered in her ear pausing at each sentence and reciting the words in a low sick voice, as if they were being held captive inside his mind for a very long time.

"If I could… turn back time, if I could repeat… everything… all over again, I wouldn't hesitate. I'd fight to win you over. I wouldn't care who you were with. I'd help you more to follow your dreams. Betty", he tried to get closer to her, "if I had the chance, I'd love you again".

"Don't say those things. Everything is going to be fine".

The door opened and a middle aged man appeared at the doorframe. Besides the white short and scarce hair, with small traces of black, abundant facial hair, of strong body build in spite of his years, the man looked like a mirror image of Gio: his father. Ana Maria appeared from behind him. Gioseemed to eye her disapprovingly but she didn't flinch an inch. Betty stood up and gave them some space to talk things over.

"I'll see you tomorrow" she told Gio and walked out of the room followed by Ana Maria. She offered to take her home but Betty refused the offer. It wasn't very late and she could still take the train.

Walking down the streets, back in Queens, she noticed the beauty of a cloudless night and looked up trying to find the stars that Gio once showed to her. As she scrutinized the firmament she noticed a glitter of light travel across the skies, like a shooting star. And without any apparent reason, she started crying on the way back home.

—0—

Betty surged from the elevator with a bright smile on her lips. It was noon and she took advantage of her free time at lunch to pay Gio a visit. Under her arm she had the magazine where her story was published. She wanted to read it to him and discuss certain aspects of style with him. That would surely entertain him a little, she thought.

She opened the door of room 1908 and discovered that Gio wasn't there.

Her eyes shot wide open and she couldn't contain a cry of joy. She wondered if it was possible that God heard her prayers and Gio was already back home.

She asked the nurse who was tidying the room.

"The patient that was here in this number, was he discharged already?"

"Are you family?" That was not the answer Betty was expecting.

"Almost ", she hesitated. "I'm a friend... a very close friend".

The nurse touched her shoulder. She didn't like that touch. It was cold and it froze her insides.

"I'm sorry", the nurse s said in glacial trained voice. "He's gone. He passed away last night. I'm sorry".

Betty's eyes tried to discover in desperation any sign in that woman's body that revealed that she was joking. She couldn't find a hold and she felt dismay. Her shaky hands grabbed the magazine as if it were a salvation log in the open sea. "This can't be possible", she thought. He was the hero of her story. He couldn't die.

"No!" she let escape from her pale lips. The nurse considered that it was better to leave her alone for a moment and closed the door behind her.

Betty, with inexplicable strength, tore the magazine in half. Her mind was on the verge of insanity. She threw the pieces of the magazine against the bed. But nobody was resting in it. It was empty. It was deserted.

"Because of this you died! I don't want this. No!"

She imagined him lying there, over the same bed she had in front of her, just like he was last night. Tears were running like salty unstoppable streams disfiguring her face. Her teeth were clattering as she moaned inconsolably.

She climbed on the bed, suffering a nervous breakdown. She curled up around the pillow and cried softly over the white sterilized sheets, recognizing finally the deepness of her feelings, murmuring words that nobody could hear anymore.

"Don't go. Don't leave me", she whispered to the empty pillow. "I love you".

He was gone forever. Not even the chance to say a single word, not even a miserable single word, not even 'goodbye'.

"No… no", she cried sobbing finally realizing there was nothing she could do, nothing anybody could do. Gio was dead and soon he would be nothing more than a memory. "Oh! No, no…

_No, no…_

———

**Next Chapter: One last Chance**


	13. Chapter XII: One Last Chance

**Twelfth Chapter: One Last Chance**

_No!_ Betty woke up with a start. She tried to recall but she couldn't remember anything of whatever she was dreaming but she could tell it had been a nightmare. Her eyes were sullen and dried out of tears and her body was all sweaty.

She put on her sleepers and took a sip of water trying, hopelessly, to bring ease to her sore throat. Her body felt heavy as lead. Many weeks had passed since the last time she could spend a pleasant night. Especially after all dealings with the funerary were concluded and she had little things to keep her mind busy. But that night she'd felt heavier than ever. And sleeping under a rain storm hadn't helped either. At least, she thought, she managed to get some sleep for a few hours.

She opened the curtains and let the light rays peep through the window. The stormy night had given birth to a radiant morning, beautiful and cloudless. But she couldn´t feel the warmth of the day greet her like she did before the tragedy. In those last few days everything seemed gray and tasteless.

_Why life was such a heavy burden?_, she thought. If only she could have Henry back she would have someone to lean on, someone to support her and share her pain and tears. But Henry was ancient history and she was alone to cope with her sadness.

They said 'nobody knows what one has until one loses it'. And she felt as she lost her happiness forever.

But of course, Henry wasn't out of reach and Betty was sure he wanted to be with her as long as she decided to give him another chance. But not then, not like they were then. And not after all that had happened in her life. So many things in so little time. She wasn't going to let her heart become devastated again. And she had told him clearly yesterday night when he came by surprise to her house. It had been only yesterday that he heard the shocking news and, for a strange reason, he wanted to discuss their future together and the possibility to get back together again. _But, which future?_ She wondered. It was already too insensible from his part to rejoice in the disgrace of others to build their own happiness. But she desired for happiness so badly.

_What is it that I want? What is it I really want?_ Those questions wandered several times inside her head but she couldn't find an answer. She was tired of so much thinking. Her heart was just so tired of mourning and grieving.

The whole house itself felt as one big mortuary house. Even though the residents of the Suarez house tried to look happy and casual, their eyes revealed the truth: it was really hard to overcome the death of our loved ones. But in spite of all that, that was another day, Betty thought. And it was her personal choice to go on with her life and start another day with renewed strengths. She tried to crack a smile in her face. She searched her wardrobe for bright colors to cheer her up. She chose a multicolored skirt a stamped blouse and red and pink tank top. She looked in the mirror and decided right there that she wouldn't let anything or anyone upset her that day.

She carefully descended the stairs and walked through the living room in her tiptoes trying not to wake the person who was sleeping in the sofa. Without a second glance, she opened the door, and staring ahead to the streets, she ventured to the world ready to divert her thoughts occupying her mind with all the work she could find as soon as she reached her office.

Though there was chaos caused by the multiple preparations for a certain event of importance that was happening that same evening, the morning at the office passed without complications. But lunch time was drawing near and Betty heard her stomach complaining. She knew there was nothing that could make her more upset than hunger. So she decided to walk down to 'The Closet', as all the employees called the department in charge to store the magazines' clothing and accessories. There she could talk and release her worries to a friendly ear that will surely lift her spirits.

Before she reached to her final destination, she met Xiao Hua, on of the designer technical analysts, at the coffee machine, with several of her scrawny work colleagues talking about the festivities that had occurred the day before at her community.

"We also celebrate the 'Chilseok' "said another Mode employee of Korean heritage. "But not even in my deathbed I would eat the food just like you did, Xiao Hua. The extra pounds are already showing in your body".

"_Excuse me_", asked Betty as she walked pass through them.

Xiao Hua looked at her with contempt and then looked at her own tights, comparing them. With a disgusted face she disposed of the coffee she had been drinking with so much pleasure just seconds before.

Betty rolled her eyes. _A normal day at Mode_, she told herself aloud and went directly to the place where her friend Christina worked. She was in charge of the wardrobe for Mode magazine.

Trying to entertain with something to ease the heaviness that her day had started, she turned on the Blackberry and searched the internet for that Asiatic festivity that she had heard on her way to The Closet. She did so as she talked with Christina who was paying very little attention overwhelmed by the excess of work she had that afternoon.

_The Qi Xi, the Chilseok, the Lovers' day. Interesting._ Coincidentally it was yesterday the seventh day of the seventh month according to the lunar year calendar. The story of two lovers separated by the adversities of life but that destiny gave them the chance to be together, even for a brief instant, even if it wasn't forever. Betty found that beautiful. She really enjoyed romantic stories and this one was perfect to depict her relationship with Henry, she thought as she wrote a digital note to remind her of the legend.

At that very moment she heard the far away sound of a little bell and ran to the encounter of the one who'd sounded it. _This time I'll choose my favorite sandwich. I'm so hungry! _She thought as she waited in a line of insipid and skinny women that formed the staff of Mode. When it was her turn, she surprised to find herself facing a complete stranger and, yet something about him seemed oddly familiar. She was informed that the previous sandwich cart employee had been substituted by another guy. A young short man, of deep gravely voice, quick wit and weird sense of humor.

"_Well, Welcome!"_ she told him after sharing a few words with him.

Betty could have sworn that she had lived that scene before. She felt a sudden stroke of happiness sweep through her like a gentle summer breeze. And for a very brief moment, without any logical reason, she had a sensation of being sincerely happy forgetting all her worries. She smiled back at him and lost herself in that second, that seemed an eternity, swimming between thoughts and memories that she never had before.

She looked through those transparent dark eyes and she knew. Yes, something inside her knew that they were playful, almost mischievous, just the same as they were jovial and sharp. She contemplated that smile and she couldn't explain how but she knew it was honest and carefree. And those hands… she couldn't help feel a small chill travel her skin as she imagined them gentle and adventurous, tenacious and overflowing love to give.

"Betty" a voice awoke her from her thoughts. Daniel, her boss, called her for an errand. "Can you get me this for the benefit tonight?"

She took the sandwich that the young man in front of her was handing to her with a smile and erased the silly thoughts that crossed her mind just a few moments ago. But still, she returned the smile automatically, unconsciously. As if she remembered. As if part of her knew that everything would have a new beginning.

One last chance.

———

**THE END**

"_In my dreams I can fly  
I can swim in the sky  
I move like I'm dancing on the air  
To the music everywhere_

_Because you love me  
Yes, you love me_

_In my dreams there's a place  
I know somewhere faraway  
I can feel it when you're with me  
I can taste it when you kiss me_

_Because you love me  
Yes, you love me  
In my dreams__."_

Walter Meego "In My Dreams"  
Song


	14. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

—_**Thanks for reading—**_

This story is supposed to exist by itself. So people don't have to know the TV series in order to understand it. (I should have put this in the prologue). Anyway if you haven't seen the show Ugly Betty, well, I totally recommend it. Watch it!

By the time I wrote the Spanish version of this fic the last aired episode of Ugly Betty was 2.13 "A Thousand Words by Friday". But the whole story, as you might already figured out, develops before 2.03 "Betty's Wait Problem". But we did knew some of what's coming in episode 2.14 like the "carriage ride" and Betty's birthday so I just had to put it in the story.

The experience was quite interesting. I learned to organize simple plots and the sequence of each chapters. I find it hard to keep the characters "in characters" (not that I even care to make them in character) so I almost always end up giving them a life of their own. If I ever decide to write again a fanfic I might prefer the Alternate Universe (AU) style.

Also, I used only three songs looping in the playlist as I typed and created this story. The songs are: Nickleback's "Far Away", Walter Meego's "In my Dreams" and Steve Conte "Living inside the shell".

I really enjoyed writing this (even though it doesn't look like it).

I think I won´t ever write an angsty fics like this one anymore. The experience is exhilarating but it leaves you a bitter aftertaste.

Epilogue update: After many months of procrastination and empty pages in front of me I am ashamed to admit that I can't make up for any ideas to make a happier ending because this story was carefully planned since the first to the last chapter. I have no idea how to do it. So I am labeling this story as complete. Sorry to those who subscribed. I am really not that good a writer. If anyone comes up with alternative ending chapters I would like to read it. If not, this is the end.

Anyway, I still want to thank again to MyraDLG and Bella (SouthernBella04) who were so diligent proofing my English translation and to Angel (Angelgrl0284) who ended up liking my story after all. I am really looking forward her opinion for she is one of the founders of the Getty Girls and a wonderful writer.

_Beatrice Benedick_

--

Vocabulary:

Budin (Ch. V, X): Pudding made of bread.

Capicua (Ch. III): Dominoes game caribbean expression. When a player wins the hand with a piece that matches both ends and earns 25 bonus points.

Colcha () : bed spread.

Huevos Rancheros (Ch. II): Mexican dish consisting of eggs.

Linda: (Ch. III, IX) cute, pretty lady.

Mama (Ch. I) : (italian: Mom)

Mija (mi hija) (Ch. II): My daughter.

Papi (Ch. II): Daddy.

———

Licenses:

There are certain (a lot) differences between the original series and this fic (and you should already know why). But they are not mistakes. I decided to take some licenses. Like, for example:

"'Gio's Deli' is located two blocks away from the Meade Building and not in it's lobby.

The first episode where Gio met Betty (Episode 2.03 in the series) aired october 11th; in my fic it happened Monday august 20th of 2007.

The characters: Ana María Rossi, Yamil, Raúl, Indira, Rori, Niklas Keller, Leah y Angelo are totally fictitious and don't appear in the original series.

———

Finally, additional notes:

"Qi Xi (China) Chilseok (Korea) is a festivity that is celebrated the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar year. It is also called the Chinese Lover's Day and is based in a romantic legend based in the stars Altair, Deneb y Vega.

"Summer triangle: Common name to refer three of the stars Altair, Deneb y Vega, the brightest stars of the constellations Aquila, Cignus, and Lyra that seem to form a triangle in the summer skies.

———


End file.
